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A French immersion school in Selkirk, Man., has been renamed to honour the legacy of the late Murray Sinclair.
The school, previously known as École Selkirk Junior High, is now officially called École Murray Sinclair Middle School after a celebration Wednesday.
The Lord Selkirk School Division approved the renaming for the 2026-27 academic year in March, honouring the Anishinaabe lawyer, judge and senator who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“[Selkirk] meant so much to him. He would have been so honoured,” said Niigaan Sinclair, Murray Sinclair’s son. “He loved this place. This was the place in which he really learned many of the ideas that then built his later career.”
Sinclair died in 2024. The ceremony, which featured traditional drumming and hoop dancing, allowed the school and community to come together in celebration and reflection of his life and legacy.
A packed gymnasium erupted in enthusiastic applause when the renaming of the school was made official.
Grade 8 students Adrianna Keeler and Brooklyn Christie said renaming the school after Sinclair is fitting because of how inspirational he was.
“I think it’s really special that we get to have our school named after such an honourable man like Murray,” Christie said.
Grade 8 students Brooklyn Christie, left, and Adrianna Keeler, say it’s special that their school now bears Sinclair’s name. (Josh Crabb/CBC)
“He was a wonderful person and wanted so much for the younger generations,” Keeler added.
Sinclair’s family also announced the creation of a new student award, funded through an endowment the Murray Sinclair Memorial Fund has made to the Selkirk Community Foundation.
Sinclair’s daughter Dené Sinclair said the award aims to support student education and well-being through participation in music and sports.
“Our dad’s goal was always to be the best Anishinaabe person he could be. And for him, I know that meant to be kind, to be a good relative, to be a good neighbour…. It also meant for him that he needed to know who he was,” she said.
“Our hope for this fund and these awards is that they’ll help some young people to make new goals, to explore themselves and to find out who they are.”
Sinclair’s connection to Selkirk runs deep. A member of Peguis First Nation, he was born just north of the city, on what used to be the St. Peter’s Reserve, in 1951.
“Murray himself walked these halls, learned math, physics and English in these classrooms, and played basketball in this very gym,” principal Daryl Loeppky told the crowd.
“He excelled on the court and in the classroom, being named male athlete of the year, and was voted valedictorian by his classmates in 1968.”
A photo of Murray Sinclair as valedictorian in Selkirk Collegiate’s 1968 yearbook. (Submitted by Niigaan Sinclair)
The school division said in a statement it wanted to not only recognize Sinclair’s remarkable career and contributions to Canada, but also the lasting impact he had on education, reconciliation and the pursuit of a more just and equitable society.
The idea of renaming the school was opened to the community for suggestions, Loeppky said, and Sinclair’s name was put forward multiple times.
“It’s a fantastic honour [to have the school named after Sinclair]. We’re so thankful that the family has allowed us to carry on his legacy this way,” he said.
This is the second school in the province to be named after Sinclair. A French immersion school in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood was named École Mazina-Giizhik, after his spirit name, in April.
Traditional drummers at the ceremony. (Josh Crabb/CBC)
Mazina-Giizhik means “the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky” in Anishinaabemowin.
Sinclair never liked making things about himself, his son Niigaan said, preferring to talk about the people and places important to him.
“The most important thing to Dad wasn’t always the highest grades…, it was to love one another, to feel proud of yourself,” he said. “One of the things he loved the most was visiting and spending time with people, hearing their stories…. The people he loved the most to listen to are children.”
Selkirk also renamed a city park after Murray in 2017, Niigaan said, which meant a lot to his father at the time.
“He always wanted his community to be proud of him.”
Another school in Manitoba has officially been named in honour of the late Anishinaabe lawyer, judge and senator. Murray Sinclair led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and is influential in Canada, but before all that he graduated from a high school in Selkirk, Man., where he excelled in the classroom and on the court.
