RAIC Gold Medal 2024 Recipient

The following text was compiled through texts received from Ryan Gorrie, MRAIC.

Born and raised on the former St. Peters Indian Reserve North of Selkirk, Manitoba, Justice Sinclair has become a figurehead for human rights and reconciliation in Canada. In 1980, Justice Sinclair was called to the Manitoba Bar and focused primarily on civil and criminal litigation, Indigenous Law, and Human Rights. Justice Sinclair was well-known for his passionate and thorough representation of his clients, Indigenous governments, Indigenous child welfare agencies, Friendship Centres, Métis organizations, and Indigenous corporations.  

In 1988, Justice Sinclair was called to the bench, becoming Manitoba’s first, and Canada’s second, Indigenous judge. In the same year, he served alongside the Associate Chief Justice as Co-commissioner of the Public Inquiry into the Administration of Justice and Aboriginal Peoples of Manitoba. In 1995, Justice Sinclair was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench, where he continued to lead high-profile court proceedings and the institution of restorative justice processes throughout the province.   

Alongside his involvement in law, Justice Sinclair taught courses at the University of Manitoba and served as an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. He has been invited to share legal expertise across Canada and at prestigious academic institutions such as Cambridge University, Yale University, and Harvard Law School, as well as numerous professional organizations, including the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges and the National Judicial Institute. He has received 14 honorary degrees, as well as been presented with honorary diplomas from multiple Colleges and dozens of Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations.   

Justice Sinclair has spent years serving on numerous boards, including The Boy Scouts, The Royal Canadian Air Cadets, The Canadian Native Law Students Association, and the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, to name a few. In 1994, Justice Sinclair was notably honoured with one of the first National Aboriginal Achievement Awards (now known as the Indspire Awards) in the field of justice and a second Indspire Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.   

Justice Sinclair was appointed to Chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada into Indian Residential Schools (TRC) in 2009. The TRC traveled to cities across Canada, hearing from 7000 witnesses, and in 2015 issued 94 “Calls to Action” to “redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation,”* urging all levels of government — federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous — to work to change policies and programs in a concerted effort to repair the harm caused by residential schools and move forward with reconciliation. 

In 2016, Justice Sinclair was appointed to the Senate of Canada as an Independent Senator, where he continues to advocate for a variety of important issues. 

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Justice Sinclair’s seminal work as the Chair of the TRC marked a turning point in Canadian cultural policy, one that encouraged a collective rethinking on the “spiritual foundations of our national life”** in the 21st century. The recommendations brought forth by Justice Sinclair and the TRC have permanently altered the political landscape of Canada, having direct impact on the cultural expression of Canada’s many identities and cultures.  

We see the impact of Justice Sinclair’s work throughout Canada’s physical and cultural environments. The RAIC, in 2016, created the Indigenous Task Force and the Truth and Reconciliation Task Force, while the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) and the RAIC supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The majority of the schools of architecture have made Indigenous topics central to their pedagogy, with a number of them having established full-time teaching positions focused on Indigenous scholarship in architecture. At the broader public level, many universities and municipalities welcome and celebrate Indigenous cultures throughout the built environment. The federal government has encouragingly committed to ambitious Indigenous Benefit Plans in their procurement processes that will improve the economic prosperity of communities for future generations. At the same time, Indigenous architects are being acknowledged in Requests for Proposals for their lived experience and insights for a range of public and community projects. In 2018, UNCEDED: Voices of the Land was the first Canadian representation of Indigenous Peoples from Turtle Island at the Venice Architecture Biennale.  

These profound shifts in our collective awareness and priorities, stemming from the TRC and Justice Sinclair’s work, will have lasting impact, not only on the future of the built environment in Canada, but also in how Canadian architecture is considered, who is at the table, who designs it, and how it represents Indigenous nations to the global community. Justice Sinclair’s work will continue to impact to the profession of architecture, the arts and culture in Canada for generations to come.   

In his final remarks during the final event of the TRC, Justice Sinclair stated: “It is my hope that the TRC’s Calls to Action will help bring about a new era for Canada — for Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike. I stand before you hopeful that we are on the threshold of a new era — a point of fundamental change in Canada’s story…a period of change that, if sustained by the will of the people, will forever realign the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. Change of course, will not be immediate. It will take generations, so it is important that Canadians call on the federal government to create tools of reconciliation that will live beyond today.”