Welcome
We are part of an international movement to decolonize academic institutions and recognize the centrality of Indigenous Knowledges as foundations for contemporary Indigenous life.
Today we mourn the passing of Murray Sinclair
Today, we mourn the passing into the spirit world of Mizhana Gheezhik, “The One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky” Murray Sinclair.: judge, lawyer, lecturer, professor, chancellor and 4th degree Midewiwin in the Three Fires Society. Justice Sinclair was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1980 and appointed associate chief judge in 1988. He was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba. He spent his life advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples. He chaired three public inquiries that shaped law and legal policy in Canada: The Manitoba Public Inquiry into the Administration of Justice and Aboriginal Peoples, the Report of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Inquest, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He served as a Senator from 2016 to 2021. Since 1981, Justice Sinclair has also taught courses on Aboriginal Peoples and the Law at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Native Studies.
For his contributions, Justice Sinclair was awarded a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, now the Indspire Awards, in 1994 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. For his work in Indigenous justice, he received 20 honourary degrees. He was also appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022 and Manitoba in 2024. In 2019, Murray received the Symons Medal, an honour bestowed on individuals who have made exceptional contributions to Canadian life.
We honour his extraordinary contributions to creating places of dignity, respect and justice for Indigenous peoples in Canada. We celebrate his life as we continue to work in the spirit of his words: Education got us into this mess. Education will get us out of it. May he travel well into the spirit world.
Embodying Indigenous Knowledge
Land-based learning through personalized, hands-on approaches that combine oral traditions, languages, histories, ceremonies, mentoring, and relationship-building with local Elders and Knowledge Holders
Apprentice with an Elder
Students have an opportunity to work directly with an Elder or Knowledge Holder in the Bimaadiziwin Atonhetseri:io Option
Complete One Dissertation, Get Two PhD's
Explore International Indigenous Knowledges
Dissertation Knowledge Basket
The PhD Program in Indigenous Studies offers two format options for the dissertation that students produce in year four. Option one is a monograph dissertation and option two is the new dissertation knowledge basket.
