Murray Sinclair was ‘heavy with the stories’ of residential school survivors: Tanya Talaga

Murray Sinclair carried within himself the stories of thousands of residential school survivors, and felt the weight of every single one, says his friend Tanya Talaga.

Sinclair, the Anishinaabe senator and renowned Manitoba lawyer who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has died at age 73.

The TRC’s groundbreaking 2015 reports laid bare horrific truths about this country — that between the 1870s and the 1990s, the federal government took more than 150,000 Indigenous children away from their families and forced them to attend church-run schools to strip them of their languages and cultures. Abuse and neglect were rampant at the schools, and thousands of children died from malnutrition, disease, suicide and more. 

Murray’s work for the TRC saw him travel the country and listen to thousands of survivors recount their experiences of residential school.

Talaga, an Anishinaabe journalist and author who has often borne witness to tragedy and injustice in the course of her work, says she often leaned on Sinclair for mentorship. Here is part of her conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

I suspect it is slowly and sadly sinking in for many people across the country about what Canada has lost, what Indigenous people have lost. But what does it mean to you, this loss? 

He was a mentor of mine. He was a friend. He was someone I would turn to at certain crossroads in my life. Even as I was writing, thinking, I would call Murray if I was stuck. 

That goes not just for myself, [but] for a lot of First Nations leaders and people. I know that many of us reached out to Murray in times of crisis, in times of indecision. And we always looked to the great man for any words of advice. And he would always answer the phone. He would always jump in when requested and asked. And he was asked many, many times. 

I don’t know if Canada really understands the extent of the loss with the death of this great leader, Murray Sinclair. He truly was one of a kind, and he carried for so, so long the stories of so many of our survivors of Indian residential schools, the witnesses for what happened then. And he left a roadmap of how this country could change. And we are woefully not following it with the speed we should. 

Did he tell you, Tanya, about the kind of toll hearing those stories, and holding those stories, as you were saying a moment ago, had on him?

I know that he spoke about originally declining taking on the TRC, because he knew the weight, the spiritual weight, of the stories he would hear and what would be asked of him.

And not just him, but also his family, his children. You cannot do this work in a vacuum. He knew what he was being asked, his entire family was being asked, to take this on, to take the TRC on. And it is not easy.

In his book, Who We Are, he talked about the infant deaths in Winnipeg that he … investigated as part of a commission there. And he never forgot the names of those babies. And it left such a weight on him. 

He knew what talking to thousands of survivors would be, what it would mean emotionally and spiritually. He became heavy with the stories. 

You’ve taken on a lot in your work. And in your latest book, The Knowing, you write Murray Sinclair was a sounding board, a support system, that ear and that shoulder you could lean on as you grappled with… reconciliation in this country, what it means, where we’re at in that process. What did he tell you about … his understanding of reconciliation now?

He left us with those [TRC] calls to action  the roadmap forward. He understood that truth needed to come before reconciliation and that we are still in a period of truth-finding in this country. That we have so much more to understand as a country. 

And thank you for bringing in, you know, my last conversation with Murray. I’ll never forget…. We had this grand talk for almost three hours. 

My book was near completion, and I told him that the TRC … really helped me along. And he said he was grateful for the work that I was doing, and that he had written the TRC to arm the reasonable. You know, he wanted people to read it. He wanted people to understand it.

He was always like a giant hug, every time we spoke. He was such a fan of mine, and mine of his.

He was someone that was turned to all the time. And we respected his opinions so much. He was a great man and he will so be missed.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counselling and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.

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