Murray Sinclair Reflection – OKT

As lawyers practicing Aboriginal law in Canada, and supporting our client’s Indigenous laws, everyone at OKT – staff and lawyers – felt the loss last week of Murray Sinclair. Nearly everyone doing this work has a story of some sort about how Murray Sinclair touched their lives. Some of us knew him personally, others only by his outsized influence on the relationship between Canada and the Indigenous peoples whose land Canada was built on.

And while for many Canadians, Murray Sinclair will be remembered for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, many of us will treasure other memories as well.

Murray Sinclair was a role model for new lawyers, and lawyers who have been practicing for many years. Roger Townshend, one of OKT’s founding partners described Sinclair as “A great lawyer, a courageous and inspiring leader, a co-worker and a friend who encouraged me to go to law school. He was one of lawyers whom I attempted to emulate in my practice.”