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HAY RIVER - A very special school reunion will be held in Hay River this coming summer.

Planning is underway for a gathering of former students of the Hay River Federal Day school, which operated on Vale Island from 1949-1971.

Ron Courtoreille, a former student of the Hay River Federal Day School, is chairing an organizing committee for a school reunion this year. Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The reunion – set for July 31 to Aug. 3 – will coincide with the school's 60th anniversary.

"We want to get together and reminisce about the good old times," said Ron Courtoreille, a former student and chair of the reunion's organizing committee.

It will be the first all-school reunion, although some smaller class reunions have been held in the past.

The Federal Day School served both what is now the Hay River Reserve and the Town of Hay River, then concentrated on Vale Island.

Courtoreille said he has fond memories of the school.

"It was great," he said, adding he went to the school from beginning in Grade 1 in 1951 until 1962.

Courtoreille said many well-known people in the Hay River area also attended the school.

While he can offer no exact figure on how many students went to the school in the 23 years it was open, he said, "I would say over 1,000."

The school, which was not a residential school, was operated by the federal government prior to the formation of the territorial government.

Lynn Readman, who attended the school from 1955 to 1966, also has fond memories.

"Everyone knew everybody," she said. "We were all just a group of kids."

She doesn't recall there being any divisions between native and non-native students.

"I think we all learned to swear in Slavey," she said.

Readman is hoping a lot of former students attend the reunion.

Chief Alec Sunrise of K'atlodeeche First Nation is also a former student of the school, having attended for several grades in the early 1960s.

Sunrise said band members who went to the school have varying recollections of the school.

The chief said some people think the strictness of the school was just as bad as at a residential school.

For example, students were sometimes strapped, he said. "I never got it, but others did."

However, there was no difference in the way native and non-native children were treated, he said. "It was pretty straight across."

Sunrise also said native children were not allowed to speak their language at the school.

"They were there to learn English," he said.

Despite saying he would not want to return to those school days, Sunrise said he would be interested in attending the reunion and he thinks it's a good idea.

"I think it would be awesome and interesting," he said, adding it will be good to learn what former students are doing after all these years.

Courtoreille also said strict discipline was in place at the Federal Day School.

"Everyone got strapped," he said. "Corporal punishment was in place, I can attest to that."

And, he noted the conditions at the school were not like those a today's learning institutions.

"We had outhouses and honey buckets in there," Courtoreille recalled.

The reunion organizer said the only section of the school still standing is an industrial arts building, now used as an indoor range by the Hay River Shooting Club.

The school was originally called the Hay River Indian Day School and later just the Hay River High School.

However, it is most commonly referred to as the Federal Day School.

Courtoreille said there is a lot of interest in the reunion and he hopes people will be coming from all over Canada.

"I do know people are interested," he said, although he added he has no idea on how many people will attend.

Former teacher Irma Miron is one person who plans to be at the reunion.

Miron, who taught at the school for about five years in the 1950s during a much longer teaching career in Hay River, said she still sees many former students around town.

At 87, she still has many vivid memories of her days at the Federal Day School.

"I remember lots there," she said.

For instance, she recalled students from West Channel took taxis to school before the days of busing, and the tooting of taxi horns would wake everyone in West Channel each school day.

A ladies' club raised money to pay for the cabs, although Miron recalled, "I paid for my share of the taxi."

Then there was a Christmas concert at the school, but the children had no bells to ring while they were singing. Miron went to the Hudson's Bay store on what is now the reserve and bought dog team harnesses, which contained small bells. She removed the bells and gave them to students to ring while they were singing.

"I guess the audience liked it because they sure clapped," she recalled with a laugh.

Miron said she will attempt to contact other former teachers to let them know of the reunion.