Justice Murray Sinclair intends to move the headquarters of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to Winnipeg. (CBC)

The new chairman of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said he'll have to work hard to restore the commission's credibility.

Justice Murray Sinclair, who was in Winnipeg on Monday, said people lost some faith in the commission after infighting forced the resignation of the former chairman and commissioners earlier this year.

He said people involved with native residential schools were prepared to tell their personal stories — only to see the commission dissolve.

Sinclair, the former associate chief judge of the provincial court of Manitoba, was appointed the new chair this summer and has been trying to pick up the pieces by travelling the country to get the message out.

"We're putting out to the community the fact that we're up, we're running, we're active, we're ready to go," he said during his stop at the University of Manitoba.

'By virtue of the time it took for the new commissioners to be put into place, those people who were ready a year ago began to lose hope … we have to restore that hope.'—Justice Murray Sinclair

"By virtue of the time it took for the new commissioners to be put into place, those people who were ready a year ago began to lose hope. Not just momentum, but hope as to whether or not we were ever going to get to them. And now we have to restore that hope."

Sinclair said he hopes to move the commission's headquarters to Winnipeg from Ottawa by the end of the year, since most residential school survivors are from the West.

Such a move would also show the commission's independence from the federal government, he said.

"It'll tell people that we are not under the control of the government. Visually, that's a very important message to give," he said.

Derek Fox's parents went to residential school and the first-year law student attended Sinclair's speech at the U of M to hear more about his vision.

"For my brothers and sisters who had to experience the residential school legacy, I hope it's a healing process for them," he said. "But at the same time, for myself, for my own little family, I hope they don't have to feel the effects of that legacy."

The commission is expected to hear the stories of residential school survivors over the next few years, perhaps starting by the end of the year.

With files from The Canadian Press