The Honourable Associate Chief Judge Murray Sinclair was appointed Associate Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba in March of 1988. He was Manitoba's first Aboriginal Judge, and at that time, Canada’s second. At present there are 18 Aboriginal judges Canada.

After serving as Special Assistant to the Attorney General of Manitoba, Judge Sinclair attended the Universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba and, in 1979, graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba. He was awarded the A. J. Christie Prize in Civil Litigation in his second year of law and articled with a law firm in his home town of Selkirk, Manitoba.

He was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1980. In the course of his legal practice, Judge Sinclair practiced primarily in the fields of Civil and Criminal Litigation and Aboriginal Law. He represented a cross section of clients but by the time of his appointment, was known for his representation of Aboriginal people and his knowledge of Aboriginal legal issues.