Former head of TRC leaving upper chamber

OTTAWA — Sen. Murray Sinclair is planning to leave the upper chamber at the end of January.

The Manitoba senator says he wants to spend more time writing a memoir and to focus on his work as a legal mentor on issues involving Indigenous law in Canada.

Sinclair, 69, is the former chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated and documented decades of abuse and other harms against First Nations, Métis and Inuit children at residential schools in Canada.

He was also the first Indigenous judge appointed in Manitoba, the second in Canada.

Named to the Senate in 2016 on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following the recommendation of an arm’slength advisory body, Sinclair sat with the Independent Senators Group.

He announced in August that he would be joining Cochrane Saxberg LLP, Manitoba’s largest Indigenous law firm, but said at the time he had not yet decided whether to remain in the Senate while he took on the new role.

Sinclair was entitled to remain as a senator until 2026, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75. In a statement Friday announcing his pending departure, Sinclair said he’s been able to use his time in the Senate to advance many of the “calls to action” from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including revitalizing and protecting Indigenous languages and reforming Indigenous child welfare.