Justice Murray Sinclair
WINNIPEG, MB-Several hundred gathered at the University of Manitoba's Engineering and Technology Complex to hear Justice Murray Sinclair, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada on October 30, speak and issue a challenge on how to alleviate the pain of victims of residential schools.
"Things are going to change, and if they're going to change, we need to set the terms of what those future changes are going to result in," Sinclair said. "Reconciliation is a hard road."
After four years of hearings, investigations and putting together testimonies of some 7,000 survivors, the commission is getting ready to release their report. Due in June 2015, Sinclair said that the groundwork has already begun to include the findings and the history of residential schools.
"Getting people to understand will allow us to appreciate the significance of putting changes into our curriculum so that there is a more balanced approach to the teaching of Canadian history and about Aboriginal people," Justice Sinclair stated.
Sinclair was the 2014 Distinguished Knight Visitor as part of a special program to help schools and the community at large.
"Knowing the truth will allow everyone-Native and non-native-to move forward to a shared future," said the justice.
This is all about "creating a relationship founded on mutual respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. It is through the establishment of relationships that we are going to be able to achieve a good nation," he told the crowd.
"The importance of fixing it is all of our responsibilities. We have to find a way to get our leaders to set directions for the way we need to follow."
