Sen. Murray Sinclair is quitting the Red Chamber.
The news comes just days after Sinclair, who was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba, announced a significant book deal with McClelland & Stewart, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada.
Titled Who We Are, the forthcoming book will look at his vision for reconciliation in Canada and how the experiences of himself and his family have shaped his perspective on the matter.
Sinclair’s deal was listed earlier this week in a publishing industry announcement as “significant.”
Deal announcements use specifically phrased descriptions to connote the general value of a deal, with “significant” deals listed as being anywhere between $250,000 and $499,999.
READ MORE: Sen. Murray Sinclair joins legal firm to mentor lawyers in Indigenous law
Sinclair, who is also the former chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), had announced this summer as well that he would be joining Cochrane Saxberg LLP, which is Manitoba’s largest Indigenous law firm.
He said at the time he had been reflecting during the pandemic on the need to mentor and support lawyers on emerging issues in Indigenous law in Canada.
“The challenge of the courts is going to be to figure out a way to reconcile the current laws of Canada with the pre-existing legal rights of Indigenous Peoples,” he said in an interview with the Canadian Press.
“Everybody’s now scrambling to figure all this out.”
— More to come.