‘Every once in a while, somebody comes along and they change… the direction of a country’

Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson praised Murray Sinclair, a renowned judge, senator and truth commissioner, for transforming the direction of a nation during a renaming ceremony at École Selkirk Junior High. Sinclair, who tragically passed away in 2024 at the age of 73, played basketball for the school's team and later became Manitoba's first Indigenous judge in 1988.

He co-led the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, exposing systemic racism in Manitoba's legal system, and later became the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada from 2009 to 2015. The TRC produced a list of 94 calls to action for reconciliation. Sinclair's son, Niigaan Sinclair, quietly funded youth sports equipment and jerseys in his father's memory.

The school unveiled a new logo featuring a bird in flight and a sun, referencing Sinclair's spirit name, "one who speaks of pictures in the sky." Long Plain First Nation member Cheryl Wirch presented a star blanket with the Ojibwe floral design Sinclair treasured. Wirch's father's advice, "Be proud of who you are, and never give up.

And education is No. 1," resonated deeply with the family. The renaming honors Sinclair's lifelong passions for music, sports, and Indigenous justice.