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Good afternoon.

Thank you, Chief Gordon Bluesky, for starting us in a good way.

As we are today, life sometimes brings together people in just the right moments.

And my first official event with Murray was certainly one of those.

It was nine years ago, and I was maybe a month into the job of Prime Minister, very much feeling the weight of the responsibility that Canadians had just entrusted in me, especially because that first meeting was on a day of great consequence for this country: the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report that Murray led.

It was a culmination of years of painstaking work. Reliving trauma. Demanding action. Forging a new, better path forward.

Murray and I spoke that day and had a heartfelt, serious, and enlightening conversation.

The first of many that would follow over the years.

A discussion with Murray was always an exceptional moment, and not just because of his incredible wisdom, but also because of his patience.

Before drawing conclusions, he listened to all voices, all opinions, always with patience and openness.

Murray thoughtfully listened, even when he disagreed, and he did so with his signature smile.

A smile I’d get to know well over the course of many, many meetings and discussions.

A smile that would come every time he’d gently, but firmly, point out where I might be wrong, fill in an element I hadn’t thought of, but really should have.

Or, like a real teacher, encouraged me to put a little more work into my proposed solution. But always with that smile.

Over the years, he became, to me, a wise teacher, a trusted confidant, an insightful elder, and above all, a friend who challenged me to always do better.

But that smile, that smile always stuck with me. Because it was emblematic of who he was.

Murray grew up in an era of profound injustice. It was only by the time he turned nine that First Nations were allowed to vote without giving up status. He was 46 when the last residential school closed.

He bore witness to the systemic discrimination that Indigenous Peoples faced at the hands of law enforcement in his home of Manitoba and across Canada.

He could have easily said that this country was irredeemable, or that it was not worth the fight.

But that just wasn’t Murray.

An eternal optimist, he believed in people. He believed that, while it would entail hard work and tough conversations, it was possible to change hearts and minds.

And above all, he believed something that resonates so deeply with me as a former teacher: that while “education got us into this mess… education will get us out of it.”

He believed that the answer to building a better future lies in education – in our youth from coast to coast to coast.

He understood that change doesn't happen with the snap of the fingers.

He knew that progress is only made when you meet people where they’re at and bring them along.

When you encourage them to open their minds, think critically, and ask tough questions about who we are.

That’s what Murray believed. That’s who Murray was.

While Murray has passed on to the spirit world, his warmth, his generosity, his optimism, and his smile is very much with us today.

Murray has brought us together – he’s brought our whole country together – with a frank and true understanding, not only of our history, but of the journey of reconciliation on which we have all embarked.

With perseverance, an unwavering belief in progress, and proudly embodying who he was – an Anishinaabe and a Manitoban – Murray changed this country for the better.

In his 73 years, Murray transformed Canada.

Thanks to him, we have become more aware of our past and of the injustices that persist.

We celebrate Indigenous history and cultures as never before, and we're open to change – real change. The profound and sometimes painful change we must all embrace.

As I said in the beginning, life has a way of bringing people together at just the right moments.

And in that first meeting, and in the many encounters I had thereafter, through the many deep, important but also fun and light conversations, he continually impressed upon me that reconciliation is not about checking off 94 boxes.

It’s an ongoing, continuous, deeply ambitious process.

Murray gave us the blueprint, the foundation, the tools, to pursue reconciliation.

And now it up to all of us – governments, Indigenous Peoples, and non-Indigenous people – to keep doing the work with everything he gave us.

Thank you, Murray. Thank you all for remembering him for him today.