ANSJIs statement on the passing of Justice Murray Sinclair

The African Nova Scotia Justice Institute serves as a justice-focused organization that is proactive and reactive in its response to the pervasive institutional racism experienced by Black people and African Nova Scotians in their interactions with policing, the courts, prisons, and related systems.

Though our mandate is to address issues of systemic racism in the justice system that negatively impact Black and African Nova Scotians, we feel it is appropriate to use our platform to acknowledge the recent passing of Justice Murray Sinclair, the province of Manitoba’s first Indigenous judge, and who served as a member of the Canadian senate from 2016 to 2020.

After a lengthy legal career that started when he was first called to the bar in 1980, Sinclair was appointed the chair of Canada's Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009.

The Commission’s purpose, as stated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, was “to document the history and lasting impacts of the Canadian Indian residential school system on Indigenous students and their families.” It was organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, an agreement from Canada’s largest class action lawsuit initiated by fellow Indigenous activist, the late Nora Bernard, from Millbrook, Nova Scotia.

Though the plight of the African Canadian experience and the plight of the Indigenous Canadian experience do not mirror one another, there are, in fact, many parallels. Both groups have a shared history of oppression under British and Canadian colonial rule and systemic racism.

Both African Canadians and North Americans, as well as Indigenous Canadians and North Americans, continue to face systemic barriers and marginalization as a direct result of systemic racism that continues to persist throughout Canada, North America, and the rest of the world.

Clear and obvious symptoms of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous systemic racism are self-evident with a quick glance at data that shows that Black and Indigenous Canadians are incarcerated at an overly disproportionate rate to most Canadians, and similar disproportionate data with respect to things like criminal sentencing, police street checks, lower household income levels, lower quality housing, public school disciplinary data, lower levels of post-secondary educational enrolment, etc.

Less-obvious present-day symptoms and impacts of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism become evident to Black and Indigenous communities when we compare notes within our communities and with one another about our present-day lived experiences with racism, and the present-day lived experiences of our children and youth.

For that reason, we celebrate the lives of people who dedicate time and hard work throughout their lives to not only shed light on these types of injustices—their causes and effects—but also dedicate time and genuine effort to combat them—people like Justice Murray Sinclair, who, in 2022, was awarded the Order of Canada for doing just that.

Àṣẹ.