UnBQ Third Floor/Dormitories

“…we have been pampering and coaxing the Indians; that we must take a new course, we must vindicate the position of the white man, we must teach the Indians what law is; we must not pauperise them, as they say we have been doing.” – Sir John A. MacDonald 1885

Today the third floor of University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ) houses a combination of offices and classroom spaces. When in operation as a residential school, this floor was used primarily by staff who lived at the school. Throughout the years, the third floor also contained classrooms and other teaching spaces, such as the sewing room.

Fire escapes were located directly off the stairwells, and led from the roof down to the back parking lot of the building. Students would sometimes sneak out of the school via fire escapes, sometimes to steal food or go into town. As with other floors, the boys’ area was located on the east side of the school, and the girls’ dormitory on the west side. The senior dormitories were for students aged fourteen and above. The number of beds in these dorms likely changed through the years – especially as overcrowding became more of a problem. A small sink and bathroom was also attached to each dorm.

Public bathing was a traumatic experience for many students.  The cutting off of hair and the use of powders and oils in an ill-conceived attempt at ridding children of lice were horrifying experiences. At the Alberta hearing in 2013, Margaret Cardinal reflected on the horror of having her hair cut off at BQ where she was “herded off to the showers” and was later forced to participate in the abuse by the school administration who made her scrub the younger children (Cardinal, 2013).

Students did not have personal belongings with them during their stay. Upon arrival to the school, children were stripped of their personal belongings and assigned a number with corresponding school uniform. The clothing the children wore to the school would be bundled up and kept in these cupboards, only to be returned when the children returned home.

The girls’ dormitory has since been converted into a classroom, boardroom, offices, and storage space, and the boys’ into a classroom and offices. At the time of operation, each dormitory would have each been one large room. Adjacent to each dormitory was a bedroom for a staff member. These bedrooms were located beside the dormitories so staff could easily monitor students’ behaviour at all hours.

Overcrowding

Denominational rivalries were another reason residential schools like Blue Quills were overcrowded, and churches often competed for students against schools run by churches of other faiths. For instance, despite already being overcrowded, Joseph Guy OMI requested that Sacred Heart increase its pupilage 25% – from 60 to 75 – because otherwise the children would be sent to a Protestant school. In this case, the OMI proposed that they use one of the old decommissioned mission buildings as a dormitory for these children while they awaited a new BQ building.

This resulted in chronic over crowding at all three schools and left little flexibility for accommodating students if buildings were damaged due to a fire or flooding.

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. Your keyboard's arrow keys can also be used. Travel to different areas of the third floor by clicking on the floating arrows.

This image gallery includes modern and archival photos of UnBQ's 4th floor