A tribute to a kind soul
maria de leeuw, contributor
“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”
“I’ve started to share them with you,” Jonas said, trying to cheer him.
“That’s true. And having you here with me over the past year has made me realize that things must change. For years I’ve felt that they should, but it seemed so hopeless. Now for the first time I think there might be a way.”
Those familiar with Lois Lowry’s 1994 Newberry Award winning novel The Giver may recognize the passage above as a pivotal moment in the story from page 154. Jonas’ utopian life is disrupted at the age of 12 when he is selected to become his community’s new Receiver of Memory.
His role is to receive and hold the memories of humanity – memories of great joy and terrible pain. These memories must be hidden from his community lest they interrupt the people’s peaceful and orderly lives, but they must also be maintained so that those in power can benefit from the wisdom that is gained from having them.
Upon realizing just how unfeeling his community is, Jonas, along with his mentor – the titular Giver – hatch a plan to release the memories back to the community. This plan is not a means of unburdening themselves, but because they recognize it as the only way for any of them to be fully human.
Mizhana Gheezhik, Justice Sinclair, Senator Sinclair, better known as Murray Sinclair, was far older than 12 when he was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in 2009. Sinclair had at least some idea of the weight of this appointment, having previously declined it out of concern for the emotional toll it would take.
Nevertheless, over the course of the next six years, while the TRC heard testimony from more than 7,000 survivors of Canada’s residential school system, Sinclair stayed the course. He delivered the final report in December of 2015.
The report contained a list of 94 Calls to Action aimed at all levels of government and other institutions within Canada. Sinclair referred to the residential school system as “cultural genocide,” saying “reconciliation is not an aboriginal problem, it is a Canadian problem. It involves all of us.”
Sinclair’s parents and grandparents were all residential school survivors. Sinclair himself had endured a lifetime of anti-Indigenous racism while growing up and practicing law in Canada. He was the first Indigenous Justice in the history of Manitoba, and only the second in all of Canada.
Following his time with the TRC, he was appointed to the Canadian Senate where he served for five years. Sinclair’s career achievements would have been exceptional even without taking into account the circumstances into which he was born.
Beyond his brilliance, professionalism, and success, Sinclair was kind. Kind – such a small and simple word for such a profound way of moving through the world. For all his vocational accomplishments, it was likely Sinclair’s kindness that made him best suited to the role of Chief Commissioner of the TRC.
Mizhana Gheezhik knew, perhaps better than anyone else, what a heavy burden he would carry during his time with the TRC. For six years, he listened. He listened as survivors poured out their stories, their pain, their anger, their shame, their brokenness, their fight, their survival, their resilience, and their memories.
Mizhana Gheezhik received those memories so that we would have them. He listened so that we would know – so that we could feel, and through feeling, become more human. Of all his many services to Canada, this was his greatest gift to us.
He gave us the truth so that we could find a way to reconcile with the First Peoples of this land, with our history, and with ourselves. He was our Receiver of Memory, The One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky, and he gave us a way to change. May we always remain grateful to him for that.
