Sacred fire for Murray Sinclair burns at Manitoba Legislature

Mourners visit memorial, inspired to practice reconciliation

A teepee stands in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building to shelter a sacred fire for the late Murray Sinclair. Photo: Jesse Andrushko/APTN News

APTN News: People from different walks of life continue to flock to a teepee erected in Winnipeg to shelter the sacred fire lit in memory of Murray Sinclair, who died Monday.

The fire, an important part of First Nations culture and ceremony, is considered a doorway to communicate with the spirit world and ancestors. It is a sacred event that cannot be photographed or filmed.

The fire will burn for four days after being given the go-ahead by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, an Anishinaabe pipe carrier.

“[Premier] Kinew directed the fire to be lit on the grounds,” said Bernadette Smith (NDP-Point Douglas), the Housing, Addiction and Homelessness minister in Kinew’s government.

Smith was visiting the site for the third time, she said Tuesday.

“Murray [Sinclair] was an amazing leader. He paved the way for so many people,” she said.

“He was one of my first mentors.”

The Anishinaabe judge, senator and chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission died early Monday. He had been in hospital for several months following the death of his wife, Katherine Morrisseau-Sinclair, in June to cancer.

Stanley La Pierre, a brother-in-law to Sinclair, drummed and sang inside the teepee as visitors were encouraged to throw tobacco into the fire and offer a silent prayer.

Tobacco is burned as an offering to connect with the Creator and communicate thoughts and feelings.

“People have been here, coming all night (and) all day,” said La Pierre, who wasn’t surprised the memorial attracted such a cross-section of mourners.

“I feel special sitting here, doing this work for him. [I know] he would do it for me.”

Pat Van Ryssel, an educational assistant at a Winnipeg school, says she visited the site at 7 a.m. and was so moved she returned later with three students.

“I’m so happy the school recognized what an important thing it was,” she said of bringing students to the fire and telling them about Sinclair’s work with the TRC.

“Because finally after hundreds of years people are recognizing that the stories Indigenous people have been telling about their children being buried (outside residential schools) are true.”

A group of adult students – some of the women wearing head coverings – gathered at the entrance to the teepee, where they were met by a close friend of Sinclair’s son, Niigaan Sinclair.

“It was nice to talk to them and bridge that culture,” said Omar Siddiqui, a provincial Crown attorney. “I explained to them what the tobacco was in a way they could understand and appreciate.

“Yeah, people from all nations have been here, all generations. The amount of people that Justice Sinclair impacted and his legacy – it’s real powerful to witness that in real time, you know?”

Garrison Settee, grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, a First Nations advocacy organization, says Sinclair’s death cuts deep.

“We are feeling a sense of loss and also the reality of losing one of our greatest warriors,” he said outside the teepee. “It hits us in the face.

“The magnitude of the work that he did and also the impact of the many lives he had in Canada – those are the things that I think about.”

Settee and Smith acknowledged it has been a difficult time for their people with Sinclair’s passing coming two months after the unexpected death of Cathy Merrick, the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, who helmed the largest Indigenous lobby group in the province.

“It’s affected a lot of people,” said Smith, while encouraging the public to seek support in dealing with these major life events.

“These are people that have made huge impacts in our life whether we directly knew them or not. They have contributed to the footsteps we’re walking in today.”

Meanwhile, the family of Sinclair has asked for privacy at this time.

They did announce a public memorial service would be held Sun., Nov. 10 at Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg starting at 1 p.m.

“As a reminder, for those who wish to pay their respects, a sacred fire to help guide [his] spirit home has been lit outside the Manitoba Legislative Building,” the family said in a news release Tuesday.

“The family continues to welcome everyone to visit his sacred fire (at the legislature) to make an offering of tobacco and send him your best wishes.”