Old Sun Annex

The Annex at Old Sun Community College. This Area of the School Presently Contains Various Administrative Offices. It Originally Served as the Priest’s Primary Residence During the Time that Old Sun Functioned as an Indian Residential School.

“It has been strongly impressed upon myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.” – Sir John A. MacDonald, 1879

The Minister’s Quarter’s

Cropped photo of the exterior, showing a car parked in front of the annex at Old Sun. 1930s. NA-2966-4. Courtesy of the Glenbow Archives.

The annex at Old Sun Community College is currently used as a meeting space for staff. The main floor has a private office, an office with board room, and a small kitchen area. Upstairs, there are three offices, a bathroom, and an additional room. The annex’s half basement is used for storage.

When Old Sun operated as a residential school, the annex served as accommodation for the minister, who was also principal of the school, and his family. The kitchen and boardroom functioned as a private kitchen and formal dining area where the minister could entertain guests. The rooms upstairs served as bedrooms. Students at the school were not generally allowed access to the annex, except when brought there specifically by the minister.

For the creation of this archive, many of the survivors returned to Old Sun to share their memories, and were interviewed in the boardroom which used to be the dining room for these quarters. For many survivors, it takes great strength and resilience to return to the school and revisit their memories.

Use the arrow keys (left, right, up, down) or left click and drag your mouse around the screen to view different areas of each room. If you have a touch screen, simply drag your finger across the screen.

This gallery contains modern day and archival images of the annex of Old Sun. If you have photos of the annex that you would like to submit to this archive, please contact us at irsdocumentationproject@gmail.com.

Leica BLK scanning under the stairs to the basement of the annex during digital documentation of Old Sun. August 2020. Photo source: Madisen Hvidberg.

Old Sun School, annex to the right with separate entrance visible. [193-?]. P75-103-S7-188 from the General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada.

Boardroom office of the Siksika Studies department at Old Sun Community College, formerly the dining room of the minister's quarters. Photo from digital capture of Old Sun, August 2020.

Upstairs office in the annex of Old Sun, formerly a bedroom for the minister's quarters. Photo from digital capture of Old Sun, August 2020.

Entrance to the annex of Old Sun. Photo from digital capture of Old Sun, August 2020.

Old Sun School, this brick building was opened in 1929. 1930s. NA-2966-4. Courtesy of the Glenbow Archives.

Rev. Robert Crocker and family, who would have been living in the annex. 1955. NA-4817-50. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives .

Old Sun School, annex to the right.[193-?] P7538-1022 from the General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada

Rev. Cole and Frazer with hens. Cole would have been living in the annex (on the left side of Old Sun) and Mr. Fraser in the maintenance house. June 1950. P7538-998 from the General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada.

Mandel Old Woman- We Went Back and He Strapped Us

Hello this is Mandel. I’m going to tell a few stories what happened to me at Old Sun.

It happened at uh, it happened at the dorm, the boy’s room. It started out; I was really lonely. I was lonely for my parents so we decided to uhm… There was about four of us and so we decided to run away, hey. So, we planned it out and we, uhm, we planned it out so as soon as it got dark, we already had it planned and we took some pillows and put them on the beds so, just to say, that we were sleeping. Then there was a closet where we put all our clothes in there and we busted it, that closet, and we took our clothes. Then we dressed ourselves up and then we ran down the stairs, we took off.

Took off, and we ran past the, around the graveyard and there we slept there until it was daylight. It was around during fall; it was very cold. We were just hugging each other. We had… we didn’t know where to go so then we decided to go back. I was really scared everyone was really scared of the supervisors. So, we decided to go back to the, to the, to the school. We were standing beside the bar and there was this one of the supervisors, his name was Mr. Richard, he caught us and then he told us to put our hands together put our hands together and walk in a row, so we walked back. There was that old white building, he brought us down there into one of those rooms. That was the old that white building with that old kindergarten where people go to class over there.

So, he took a whip out and he told us to pull our pants down. Then he told us to bend down and he start, I don’t know it was some kind, I don’t know what it was, it some kind of thick leather. I don’t know how many times, about ten to fifteen times on the back of our, on our back. So, then he told us to pull our hands back out and he did that and same with me. He strapped us on each hand and those things were very painful at the time, when he was… Some of the people were crying, my roommates, the people I ran away with. We were just shaking all that time and gee. Out there when we were out there, we almost froze that’s why we decided came back but he caught us like I told you, he caught us. And we went back and he strapped us.

Then he brought us in to the dining room and there everybody was going back to school. So, we were sitting there just shaking and that was it. It was the loneliness that caught us that’s why we ran away, its very lonely out there. We can’t, I don’t know, we can’t stand. We never get to see our parents, never once two, three, times a week and its lonely and yeah but that’s why we ran away.

-Mandel Old Woman

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