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Book of September / October 2025

Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation

Discussion Guide

Host: Pacinthe Mattar

Topics covered:

About the book

Drawing on Senator Sinclair’s unique experiences, and his perspectives regarding Indigenous identity, human rights, and justice in Canada, Who We Are beautifully illustrates how history, resistance, and resilience collide in finding a way forward to heal the damaged relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. It is an intimate excavation of Senator Sinclair’s life, exploring how his experiences as an Anishinaabe man, father, and grandfather, Elder, Senator and Commissioner shaped him.

Structured around the four questions that have long shaped Senator Sinclair’s thinking and worldview—Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Who am I?—Who We Are takes readers by the hand into the story of his life, while challenging us not just to bear witness, but to be part of the repair.

Women standing looking at sign that reads "No More Stolen Sisters"
Hundreds of women participated in the annual Red Dress Day march in downtown Edmonton, hosted by Project REDress, commemorating the lives of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls across Canada. Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Little girl at Pow Wow taking part in a traditional dance
Little girl at Pow Wow taking part in a traditional dance. National Indigenous Peoples Day, on June 15, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images

A bit of history

Residential Schools in Canada: From Cultural Genocide to Calls for Action

The roots of residential schools in what is now Canada stretch back centuries: In the mid‑1800s, religious organizations—Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and others—were educating Indigenous children in mission schools; by the 1880s, with the Indian Act (1876) and other legislation, the federal government took on a stronger role, funding and administering a system aimed at assimilating Indigenous children, erasing their languages, cultures, spiritual practices, and connections to family.

As the system expanded, attendance became compulsory in many places, children were often removed from their homes (sometimes forcibly), and decay in oversight—underfunding, neglect, abuse—became widespread.

Murray Sinclair, as Chair of the TRC, helped bring this history into sharper, more public view. Under his leadership, the TRC gathered thousands of survivor testimonies, reviewed archival records, and ultimately concluded in its 2015 report that Canada’s residential school system was not simply misguided policy or tragic mistake—but rather, what he called a period of “cultural genocide.”

Through Sinclair’s work, key facts became more widely known: that at least 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were enrolled over more than a century; that thousands never returned home—many buried in unmarked graves; that many survivors continue to experience intergenerational trauma linked to the physical, emotional, sexual abuses and systemic cultural erasure they endured.

Today the legacy of residential schools is both a memory and a living reality. The harms—loss of language, cultural dislocation, broken familial connections, psychological trauma—are being addressed through the 94 Calls to Action of the TRC, Indigenous‑led healing, new memorialization, national apology(s), and legal settlements. Yet many believe much work remains. Sinclair repeatedly has insisted that reconciliation cannot just be about apology—“Canada must move from apology to action.”

“Pushing through a transformative development bill, not to mention mammoth infrastructure projects, without respecting Indigenous rights does not advance national interests — it sabotages them. Respecting human rights, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples, is essential to building a strong, just economy for all.”
297641_ Amnesty Icons - Activism - Quote - PNG

Discussion Questions

CHAPTER 1: Where do I come from?

  1. Identify some of the multiple ways in which young Sinclair ’s various relatives participated in showing him “where he came from.”
  2. During his early years in Selkirk, Sinclair recognized that he “lived in a world that wholly and absolutely celebrated whiteness.” [p. 43] How this is evident overall in his education and with what effects?
  3. What educational opportunities supported him in becoming more immersed in his Indigenous background?
  4. What were some of the challenges that he encountered with both secular and religious forces?

CHAPTER 2: Where am I going?

  1. Sinclair identifies specific and substantial details on Anishinaabe beliefs, faith and hopes (p. 83- 86). How, specifically, are Anishnaabe ritual details of death, burial and the afterlife meant to support both the living and those in the multiple processes of dying? How do these rituals both reflect human struggles and offer comfort?
  2. Sinclair notes a desire to broaden his knowledge of Indigenous history and cultural knowledge, with a hope of passing it on to others. He writes: “I started to understand my lack of cultural knowledge more deeply as a progression of the pressures put upon Indigenous people to succeed in white society.” (105) How is his understanding of these pressures evident as the chapter progresses?
  3. Select one of his roles in the legal system, as lawyer or judge, and describe the significance of one of his cases in supporting Indigenous rights.
  4. What do these two incidents demonstrate about his character:

    • In 1988, he is offered a position, by the Manitoba Minister of Justice, to become a judge. How does he react to comments that he got the job because he was a Native guy? (p. 141)
    • How does he react when asked, almost immediately after becoming a judge, to act as a Manitoba inquiry commissioner to address the deaths of J.J. Harper & Helen Betty Osborne? (p. 143)

Chapter 3: Why am I here?

  1. Sinclair begins this chapter by stating that he “wanted to spend more time learning from Elders I knew about how to be Anishinaabe and about how to raise an Anishinaabe child. (p. 174). How did he do this with his own family?
  2. Discuss the degree to which the traditional Anishinaabe understanding and enaction of gender roles was meant to benefit children. How does Sinclair incorporate these roles into his love and care for family? How have he and his wife balanced tradition with a current feminist understanding of gender roles?
  3. A significant purpose of Sinclair’s life was the difficult and poignant task of developing a framework. How did this inquiry and commission differ from regular court?
  4. How did Sinclair and his co-chairs attempt to address both the practical aspects of running the commission and the trauma carried by the survivors? How did they ensure that the information provided by the survivors would have a Canadian wide audience?

CHAPTER 4: Who am I?

  1. Discuss the significance, for Indigenous people, of having a spirit name and clan identity. If not Indigenous, what, in your own culture, is similar and of what value to your own identity?
  2. Sinclair examines the role of Indigenous Elders and compares their positions to those of Canadian Senators. How so? And who, if any, do you see as the Elders in your own communities?
  3. What does Sinclair see as the role and purpose of Canadian Senators? (p. 238)
  4. What were some of the positive outcomes he identified in Senate after the TRC completed its initial task?
https://amnesty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Book-Club-Discussion-Guide-SeptOct-2025-Hi-Rez.pdf

Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation

By The Honourable Murray Sinclair

Penguin Random House, McClelland & Stewart

Murray Sinclair

Author

Murray Sinclair was a respected Anishinaabe leader, legal trailblazer, and lifelong advocate for justice and Indigenous rights in Canada. Born and raised on the former St. Peter’s Indian Reserve in Manitoba, Sinclair broke ground early in his career as Manitoba’s first Indigenous judge. He later became the Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), where he led a landmark national effort to document the experiences of residential school survivors and expose the devastating legacy of that system. Under his leadership, the TRC produced 94 Calls to Action that continue to shape the national conversation around reconciliation today.

 

Beyond his official titles, Sinclair was also an Elder, a father and grandfather, and a deeply grounded voice within his community. In 2016, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada, where he continued to advocate for Indigenous rights, education, and justice until his retirement in 2021. Throughout his public service, Sinclair has balanced the demands of political life with the responsibilities of culture and family, often drawing on his own experiences as an Indigenous man to inform his work. His legacy is one of truth-telling, bridge-building, and unwavering commitment to a more just and honest Canada.

Discussion Guide

Download the Amnesty Book Club Discussion Guide for Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation in a high-resolution printable and low-resolution sharable PDF file.

Learn More

Listen to The Honourable Murray Sinclair’s interview on CBC’s Unreserved:

Listen Now »

Listen to The Honourable Murray Sinclair’s interview on CBC’s The Next Chapter:

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What You Need To Know about the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

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How Red Dress Day Honours and Remembers the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited People (MMIWG2S+)

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Take Action

Say “NO” to legislation that sidelines Indigenous Peoples’ rights

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Help End Violence Against Indigenous Women & 2SLGBTQIA+ Land and Water Defenders

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Sources

Sources: Galt Museum and Archives, Canadian Geographic, Nunatsiaq News, USC Center for Health and Journalism.

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