Old Sun Classroom

This computer reconstruction approximates how classrooms at Old Sun Indian Residential school would have appeared. This reconstruction was created using historic photographs as well as descriptions provided by former students.

“I have reason to believe that the agents as a whole … are doing all they can, by refusing food until the Indians are on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense,” – Sir John A. MacDonald, 1882

Visualizing Classrooms From the Past

Old Sun School, Gleichen, Alberta – Classroom of children with teachers. – [194-?]. P7538-1015 from the General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada.
Old Sun Community College has undergone a remarkable transformation from an institution of oppression and coercive tutelage to one of that is playing a key role in cultural revitalization. The changing of dormitories into classrooms, and chapels into a library means there is often little within the building to remind staff, students, and visitors about its history as a former Indian Residential School.

Computer reconstruction and gaming technology provide a mean of visualizing how different areas of Old Sun might have appeared in the past. Dr. Katayoon Etemad who is a computer science researcher at the University of Calgary created this reconstruction of a classroom at Old Sun Indian Residential School as it may have appeared in the 1960’s. The model was created using historic photographs and the memories of residential school survivors who attended Old Sun Indian.

This image gallery shows historic and modern photos of Old Sun College's classrooms. Click on photos to expand and read their captions. If you have photos of Old Sun that you would like to submit to this archive, please contact us at irsdocumentationproject@gmail.com.

Allan Stevens- We Snuck Away

Okay I am going to talk about another thing. These boys that I snuck away with, are all gone on, they are no longer here. DYF, LLH, and myself, the 3 of us. We snuck away from school; the police were looking for us. We got caught and brought back to school. They strapped us continuously on our hands. The supervisor wet the strap and strapped us on our hands. We were angrily sent to bed and they also did not feed us ‘til the next day we got something to eat. They have all gone on, the ones I snuck away, those boys. They say it is bad, what they call residential school. Others, we got treated bad us, my younger brothers. If we didn’t fight back, my uncle told us fight back if you don’t fight back, you will be treated really bad so we fought back and they left us alone most of the time. There were some boys who were mean. If we had candy they would take it away from us, our candy. That’s how bad what they call residential school.

– Allan Stevens

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Allan Stevens (1952). Adrian Stimson Collection. Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. 2013.

Notes:

Oral interview with Allan Stevens. Conducted, translated, and transcribed by Gwendora Bear Chief. Old Sun Community College, March 23, 2022.