Hon. Marty Klyne: Honourable senators, I rise to pay tribute to our late colleague and friend — and to many of us, a mentor — the honourable, wise, kind and incomparable Murray Sinclair.
While serving in the Senate for five years, Murray was already a historic figure as the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba — the second in Canada — and the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this place, which he viewed as Canada’s council of elders, Senator Sinclair achieved great things. He was a leader in Indigenous law, criminal justice reform, Senate reform, equality with respect to gender and sexual orientation, economic justice, children’s rights, environmental and animal protection and many other subjects — including comedy.
Our friend was quick-witted and very funny on the fly which often led to a lot of laughter. Even with the heavy responsibility he carried and all the tragedy he had witnessed, he would still find it within himself to be lighthearted and would share his positive energy.
As a senator, his efforts for justice were relentless. He played key roles in passing legislation to undo the historic gender discrimination in Indian Act status; to require Charter-compliance statements for all government bills; to reform the criminal justice system, including abolishing peremptory jury charges after the Colten Boushie case in Saskatchewan; to support Indigenous languages; to restore Indigenous jurisdiction over child and family services; and to expand the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act. His efforts also prompted government election commitments to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in federal law and to protect captive wild animals.
On a personal level, Senator Sinclair was loved here and greatly admired by senators and staff. He was very friendly, visible, approachable and accessible. He was able to make everyone feel important. It was a good feeling to be a friend and a colleague to such a wonderful man with so many demands on his time.
With his book, Who We Are, Senator Sinclair gave us another gift. He wrote a good lesson for senators by saying, “The important thing about leadership is, you’ve got to learn to love the people.”
Senator Sinclair’s legacy is Canadians’ shared future of truth and reconciliation. It will forever be to the Senate’s credit that he served here. Though we miss him, our main emotion should be gratitude. God bless the Honourable Murray Sinclair.
I will conclude with a joke that some who knew Murray could say they heard at least 35 times. Senator Sinclair loved working with former senator Dan Christmas. In fact, every year around this time, he expressed his desire to be adopted by Senator Christmas. The reason, of course, was so he could wish everyone, “a Murray Christmas.” Thank you. Hiy kitatamihin.