‘A fine and honourable man’

A people person and positive force, Cam Mackie worked to make the world a better place

By: Janine LeGal

In 1973, Doris Mae Oulton got on a plane bound for Edmonton from the North. She’d been writing a paper, had a suitcase full of books and there was a man sitting in her seat.

“I told him, ‘You’re in my seat’,” she recalls. “He replied, ‘I don’t think so.’ Later, as we were waiting for luggage, he came in and asked if anyone wanted to share a cab. This arrogant guy who had been sitting in my seat … His name was well-known; we were both working in community development.”

Knowing how challenging it could be to navigate away from the airport, Oulton agreed to a shared cab ride, which would have life-changing impacts.

Her initial impression altered radically, and Oulton married Cam Mackie the following year. Together they had two sons, Chris and Craig, and an inspired life.

“We were married at our cabin,” she recalls. “Our cabin in Quebec has been a grounding place. It had its own lake. We were the only people on it, lots of wilderness. It was a special place for the boys.”

Oulton remembers Mackie’s ease with people and his sense of style.

“He loved talking to people, working with them,” she says. “In the time you went through the grocery checkout he would know what the ambitions of the cashier were, how many kids they had and had given them good counsel on some personal issue.

“He was dapper; he loved to wear hats. He had been diagnosed with cancer on the back of his neck and he always wore neck scarves. He collected canes and had walking sticks from all over the world.”

A friend once told Oulton that it was obvious how much her husband adored her.

“What an incredible gift to live with someone who adores you and tells you that every day,” Oulton said. “He was a fine and honourable man.”

Mackie died at age 85 on May 22, 2023.

Born in Winnipeg, Mackie’s professional accomplishments were many but his greatest source of joy was family.

He taught English at Frontier College (now Literacy Canada), organized a march to city hall for better housing and helped organize the youth initiative of prime minister Lester B. Pearson’s War on Poverty. Many of the projects across the country focused on sustainable development and had the beginnings of reconciliation with the funding of the NFB’s Indian Film Crew and the Company of Young Native Canadians.

Indigenous leaders — including Phil Fontaine, Harold Cardinal, Duke Redbird, Willie Dunn and Jeannette Corbiere Lavell — benefited from these early experiences and went on to do great things.

As assistant deputy minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Mackie appointed Indigenous leaders to head regional operations and closed most of the residential schools, leading to him being named an honorary member of Peguis First Nation.

He went on to run Opportunities for Youth, the Local Initiatives Program, the Local Employment Assistance Program, the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies and the Native Economic Development Program.

Mackie ran the Knightsbridge HR practice before joining his wife in her management consulting company. He also served on the board of Manitoba Film and Sound and as treasurer for Crescent Fort Rouge United Church.

Mackie’s influence, insights and wisdom had far-reaching effects. He didn’t just want to make the world a better place for people; he did so.

Pam Devine remembers him fondly.

“Cam took a chance on this newly hatched law graduate and thought I had something to offer the Opportunities for Youth program he headed at the time,” she says. “I guess I did OK because he then asked me to follow him on new initiatives he was undertaking in the ensuing years, including the Native Economic Development Program.

“As he did for so many people, Cam was instrumental in launching me on what turned out to be a multi-faceted, rewarding and challenging career in the federal public service. He was smart and kind and a mentor to whom I will be forever grateful.”

Alan Gratias worked for Mackie for several years in Ottawa when he was building the job creation branch in the department of manpower and immigration.

“Cam really was one-of-a-kind, with emphasis on ‘kind,’” he says. “He was my first boss and set the bar high, very high for good bosses. The best way to sum up Cam’s management style is to say he is one of those rare people who, after a meeting or conversation with him, you always came away feeling better about yourself and the world.

“Doris Mae and Chris and Craig all share the same positive attitude and that’s why myself and so many others have maintained a strong bond for over 50 years.

“We need to clone that Cam Mackie gene,” says Gratias, citing the mantra he used when necessary: “What would Cam do?”

Mackie’s eldest son, Chris, says his father was always lifting people up.

“My warmest memories of him were when he would lie on his back on the living room floor and lift me up above him — in just one hand. I thought he was so strong, I felt so safe and loved. What I remember most clearly is one day when he smiled and told me that I was too big for him to lift up with one hand anymore. But he never stopped lifting me up.

“If I ever needed a pep talk, or some help fixing something, or forgot a school assignment at home, or needed a ride in the middle of the night because my car wouldn’t start, Dad was there.”

At Mackie’s celebration of life, his son Craig recalled walks through the forest with his father and brother.

“How could you feel alone if you could relate to a tree or a rock? How could you not feel connected if your friends are all around you all the time? My dad always tried to instill in my brother and I a sense of awe in the vastness of our universe.

“Not interested in ideology or power but in impact, how to help the most people in those gifts of connection to all, a levity for life and a profound respect for what inspires awe.

“The final advice he gave us, when I asked him what his grandchildren might benefit from hearing, very clearly, after a pause to consider the weight of this question: ‘Be a strong person. Be a fair person. And be a loving person. And talk to strangers.’”