Welcome to the Mackay Residential School Gathering Inc web site. We are former students of Mackay Indian Residential school in Dauphin, Manitoba. We hold gatherings and plan initiatives aimed at healing, sharing and supporting one another through discussions, workshops, and outreach with other survivors and organizations. Here you will find photos, articles and updates for gatherings.
Notices
September 5 & 6, 2026
Dauphin Friendship Centre, Dauphin, Manitoba
The MacKay Residential School Gathering Inc. committee initially had wanted to have a gathering in Thompson in summer of 2025. But because of the northern fires, it was postponed and we decided to have the gathering or reunion in Dauphin, Manitoba.
I personally thought it was best to have it in Dauphin for a couple of reasons. First, for many it is always the first time for them to attend. And their memories will be triggered by happy, sad, anger and many other emotions. This is a way for them to start on their healing journey.
Latest News
Mackay Indian Residential School survivors meet to talk about moving on
By James Wastasecoot
Former students of Mackay Indian Residential School returned to Dauphin in early September for a gathering built around two words: Moving On.
About 50 survivors registered for the Sept. 5 and 6 gathering at the Dauphin Friendship Centre. Many began arriving Friday evening, Sept. 4, meeting old friends and former classmates before the formal program began. Over the next two days, a large sharing circle brought stories of separation, abuse, loneliness and the difficult lives many survivors faced after returning home. It also brought laughter, affection and the relief of being understood by people who had lived through the same institution.
Rt. Rev. Larry Beardy outlines a commemorative project.
Lead organizer Clara Kirkness of Tataskweyak said Dauphin was chosen partly because some survivors were attending a Mackay gathering for the first time. Returning could stir happiness, sadness, anger and other emotions, she said, but it could also begin or complete part of a healing journey. The location also allowed survivors to visit the former Mackay school building, which has been purchased by a developer for conversion into apartments.
“There was a lot of tears and laughter,” Kirkness wrote after the gathering. “In the end, the reunion and or gathering of the survivors tells me we are resilient people. We need to refocus our energy towards the next generation who was impacted by residential schools but did not attend.”
Organizers brought out a memory blanket honouring former students who have died. The names of deceased survivors will be written on ribbons and added to it. For Kirkness, the gathering also carried the memory of earlier efforts. She recalled organizing a reunion in 2010 with Alice Bear and Dan Highway at the Southeast Resource College, when there was no funding and organizers paid expenses themselves because, she said, “We felt it had to be done.”
Alice Bear story
Alice Bear
On arrival in Dauphin Friday night, my friends, Squeaky, Fanny & Louie, met at Smitty's to catch up on things. We were joined by many others who had also arrived. We had a lot of laughs till Smitty's closed.
The gathering was at Dauphin Friendship Centre Sat & Sun.
Survivors of Mackay Indian Residential School carry on healing journey and catch up
By James Wastasecoot
Former students of Mackay School in Dauphin, Manitoba came together Aug 30 – Sept 1, 2024 to catch up, remember and share their experiences as well as to chart future endeavours. “The gatherings help us to deal with issues in our lives and being together helps us to discuss how we were affected by the residential school system,” said Alice Bear who works with Peguis Child and Family. “ It is a start to understanding ourselves.”
This year’s gathering was smaller than previous years. Thirty four turned out to the venue at the Dauphin Friendship Centre, the actual Mackay School site not being available. “But it doesn’t diminish the importance of these meetings,” said Bear, who is also a board member of the Mackay Residential School Gathering Inc., the charity which the former students began in 2010. “It’s important that we continue to make progress and we reach out to other groups in the future.”
Duke Beardy, former chief of Split Lake Cree Nation said: “It was good to hear people’s sharing of their experience, it’s part of the healing process. We need to remember the bad experiences, we also need to say the positive things about it, we can share with the younger generations.”
Update on Indian Boarding Schools
June 29, 2023 — Ottawa, ON — Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, and court-appointed representative plaintiffs Reginald Percival and Kenneth Weistche announced that a proposed settlement agreement has been reached in the Federal Indian Boarding Homes (Percival) class action. The Indian Boarding Home Program was a program in which the Government of Canada placed children from First Nations communities and Inuit villages in other communities (usually non-Indigenous) to stay with private families for their education.
- Individual compensation of $10,000 to recognize the losses caused by placement in a boarding home by Canada for the purpose of attending school. Placements from September 1, 1951, to June 30, 1992, will automatically be included, with provisions made for those placed by the federal government after that date.
- Additional individual compensation, ranging from $10,000 to $200,000, for incidents of physical and sexual or other abuse while residing in a boarding home placement, based on severity of the abuses suffered;
- $50 million to be invested to support the commemoration, healing, language, and culture;
- Funding to support class members who require assistance from legal counsel and other forms of support on their abuse claims.
Former students of Mackay Residential School hold reunion
By James Wastasecoot
Former students of Mackay Indian Residential Schools gathered at the old school in Dauphin Aug. 5 – 7. 2022 to share and support one another in their healing journeys. Groups of students have been holding reunions at the school since 1987, two years after it closed for good. “It was an emotionally wrenching experience for some and for others, it was a happy occasion to visit with old friends and former colleauges,” said Clara Kirkness, event organizer and survivor. “We have about 45 individuals, many of them were new to the experience. It was hard for them to confront what happened to them here.”
“Pimotewak” – “They walk” group marks first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at Manitoba Legislative grounds
Posted Oct. 2, 2021
By James Wastasecoot
The Pimotwak walkers, who took on a thousand-kilometer trek from York Landing, Tataskwayak and Fox Lake, arrived at the Manitoba legislative grounds on Sept. 30, the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. About two hundred individuals, many of them former students at Mackay Residential school, gathered on the grounds in bright sun to mark the holiday, and to remember the children of unmarked graves discovered at Kamloops and other locations during the spring and summer.
“This has been an emotional journey for all of us,” 
said Councillor Sophie Lockhart, principal organizer.
Photographs
The group has gathered a collection of photographs over the years, many of which are displayed here. The entire collection is housed at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba. You can post your old photos to the Mackay School Pictures & Memoriabilia Facebook page. They may also end up here, eventually.