UnBQ Third Floor/Dormitories

The 3rd Floor of University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ). This floor originally contained staff rooms and teaching spaces. Click on the triangle to load the point cloud. Labels on the point cloud indicate past room functions.

“…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

Z+F 5010X IMAGER set up on third floor fire escape during digital documentation. August 2021. From Zoe Cascadden.

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

Children at Blue Quills May 5th 1951. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

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

UnBQ classroom on the southeast side of the school, formerly part of the senior boys' dormitory. Taken during digital documentation, August 2021. From Zoe Cascadden.

Students at Blue Quills, May 5, 1951. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

Girls on the front steps of Blue Quills, between 1948-1951. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

Students on the front steps of Blue Quills with Father Romeo Levert, between 1938-1949. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

A photo album page showing senior girl students posed outside of Blue Quills, between 1938-1949. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

A photo album page showing junior students dressed up in a mockery of their own cultures which they were being forced to lose at Blue Quills, between 1938-1949. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

Girls posed on the school grounds, between 1955-1966. PR2010.0475 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

Students outside of Blue Quills, date unknown. OB2104 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

UnBQ recording studio, formerly part of the senior boys' dormitory. Taken during digital documentation, August 2021. From Zoe Cascadden.

UnBQ third floor hallway with Z+F 5010X IMAGER set up on the boys' side fire escape. formerly part of the senior boys' dormitory. Taken during digital documentation, August 2021. From Madisen Hvidberg.

Third floor stairwell landing, taken during digital documentation, August 2021. From Zoe Cascadden.

UnBQ computer room and workspace, formerly the junior boys' dormitory. Taken during digital documentation, August 2021. From Zoe Cascadden.

UnBQ communal office space, formerly the junior girls' dormitory. Taken during digital documentation, August 2021. From Zoe Cascadden.

A photo album page showing students at Blue Quills, May 5, 1951. PR1973.0248/864 from The Provincial Archives of Alberta, Open Copyright.

Laser scanning data can be used to create “as built” architectural plans which can support repair and restoration work to Old Sun Community College. This plan was created using Autodesk Revit and forms part of a larger building information model (BIM) of the school. The Revit drawings and laser scanning data for this school are securely archived with access controlled by the Old Sun Advisory Committee.

Some of the threats faced by Indigenous students attending residential schools came from the buildings themselves. The architectural plans contained in this archive, which have been constructed using the laser scanning data, illustrate how poorly these schools were designed from a safety perspective. There were three specific areas that placed the health and safety of students at great risk: Fire Hazards and Protection Measures; Water Quality, and Sanitation and Hygiene. As you explore the archive, you will find more information about the nature of these hazards and their impact on students.

Margaret Cardinal- I Was Number 40

I’m originally from Saddle Lake, I went to boarding school for about 10 years, I went to Blue Quills, I started in late ‘59 to 1969. My parents are also went to the same school, my mother, she was there from the age of three till she was 16, until she was married off to my father.

My father was also there, my mother actually only had grade three, all those years she was there she spent cooking, sewing for the nuns and working, and not being able to go to school. I didn’t realize till I was about five years, in grade five, that she didn’t know how to write, because I wrote to her when I was in Charles Camsell hospital, and she wrote back and I didn’t really, I couldn’t believe that her writing was lower than my writing. I had to ask her “why?” and she said, “that’s because I spend most of my time doing work, rather than being educated.”

And my father spent all his school in the barn, and the reason, what I say, I mean by the barn, is that when he entered school, he had 90 percent hearing loss as a result of a childhood illness. So naturally, they thought he was [disabled] and uneducated, uneducational… so he spent all his boarding school life, managing cows, horses, and the animals and the farm.

When I entered boarding school, my first day if I can describe it would be, being gathered at a Sunday at the local church and being put into a granary truck. I had never seen a granary truck before. Because we didn’t have school buses then, they hauled us away in this granary truck to Blue Quills.

When we got to Blue Quills, we were herded into this cave, I’d never seen such a huge cave, I didn’t know at the time that it was a gym. It had big windows on the top but none that you could look out, it was very scary.

They um, they sorted us by size and gender, and I was the smallest. I was number 40. I was number 40 all those 10 years. I wasn’t just, you know, it wasn’t. I think that only on formal occasions that I get called my Christian name. I didn’t even know my name was Margaret Cardinal, until, when they started registering us, my cousin had to tell me that my name was Margaret Cardinal. I refused to believe her because I only spoke Cree and I kept insisting know what my name was but my cousin she said, “You better start learning your name because otherwise you’re gonna pay.”

Like any boarding school, they cut our long hair, because in my family when you have long hair, it means you have a good life. And the only time we cut our hair is when we have deaths in our family…

– Margaret Cardinal

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[watch full testimony]

Notes:

Margaret Cardinal Testimony. SP118_part16. Shared at Slave Lake Hearing Sharing Panel. June 18, 2013. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation holds copyright. https://archives.nctr.ca/SP118_part16