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On April 28, 2021, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane announced The Honourable Murray Sinclair as Queen’s 15th Chancellor. He held the position until May 2024, then accepted the title of Chancellor Emeritus and continued in a special advisory role until his death on November 4 that same year. 

An experienced national leader, Chancellor-Designate Sinclair was well-positioned to advise Queen’s as it pursues a vision of social impact.

Sinclair had an extensive legal career. Over several decades has established himself as a leading advocate for Indigenous peoples in Canada. He served as the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada. On the national level, he led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which documented the history of residential schools in Canada and issued 94 calls to action to promote reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous peoples.

In recognition of his decades of service, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2016 and served as a Senator until January 2021.

He then served as General Counsel with Cochrane Saxberg LLP, Manitoba’s largest Indigenous law firm.

Sinclair was Anishinaabe, a member of the Peguis First Nation, and a  Fourth Degree Chief of the Midewiwin Society, a traditional healing and spiritual society of the Anishinaabe Nation responsible for protecting the teachings, ceremonies, laws, and history of the Anishinaabe. His Spirit Name is Mizhana Gheezhik (The One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky).

Sinclair earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Winnipeg and graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba in 1979. He received honorary doctorates from 14 universities, including Queen’s in 2019 (as pictured above in a photo by Bernard Clark).