Murray Sinclair and Who We Are

 

When I offered a tribute to the late Murray Sinclair, the co-chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I mentioned that I had received notice from the library that his autobiography, Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation was ready for pickup.

I've read it now and I'm glad I did so close to the time of his death. I hadn't realized that his grandmother, a devout Catholic, was determined that young Murray would become a priest. This was not his desire but there was a sense of obligation, to the point that he began his studies. In the end he chose a different direction, becoming a lawyer, then a judge, although he questioned thse vocations as well because the settler legal system was so biased against Indigenous people, including those in the legal profession.

What I found intriguing is that despite the horrors of the Residential Schools, a system designed to destory Indigenous identity with the complicity of Christian denominations, Sinclair never gave up on that aspect of his faith. He always felt that there was opportunity for Christianity and Indigenous spirituality to find places of mutual respect and compatibility on the way to reconciliation. He writes about speaking with an Elder who was convinced that if Jesus were here in person he would be in the sweat lodge with them, learning their ways. 

Sinclair recognized the value of the Ten Commandments and even speaks about hell, although he muses that hell is the prison system. At the conclusion of one Truth and Reconciliation session he offered a paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer substituting "Our Creator who lives among the spirits" for "Our Father who art in heaven" and "You are special. Thank you for being special to us" for "Hallowed be your name." Half of the people present appreciated this effort and the other half felt that is was wrong given the pain inflicted by the Christian church.

Murray felt that the ill-fated White Paper developed by Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien (1969) would have done great harm in Indigenous peoples if it had been adopted. He didn't like Justin Trudeau either, because of too much talk and too little action. 

He did have a sense of humour, once signing autographs for people who thought he was Elijah Harper, doing so deadpan as his young daughter looked on.  He shared the story with Harper who later presented him with a tee-shirt during a meeting reading "I Am Not Elijah Harper." 

Murray Sinclair wrote from the premise that the Elders of many traditions have considered the "great questions of life." They are: 

Where do I come from? 

Where am I going? 

Why am I here?

Who am I? 

These are excellent questions for any of us, at every stage of life. Reading the book strengthened my conviction that Murray Sinclair was a great Canadian and that we can honour his memory by working to implement the Calls to Action created out of the Truth and Reconciliation process. I'm grateful for his spiritual witness along with so much more.