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“It has been strongly impressed upon myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will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.

Celeste Bull Bear- You Don’t Want the Other Children to Laugh

Her name is Mrs. Demetrichuk, in Gleichen, but she used to be a substitute teacher here at Old Sun Residential School. I remember that time she was substituting and she was telling us what page to go to. I couldn’t really understand her because she had an accent and she was saying “page thirteen,” but yet she wasn’t saying thirteen. She kept saying “page one three” and I was thinking she was saying “page one and page three.” I don’t know, I just I couldn’t understand her and finally she must’ve noticed I was getting confused.

She came over and she told me “did you find the page?” and I told her “no. I can’t, I can’t understand you.” and she told me, “I told you, it was, I said, its page thirteen.” And she was turning the pages for me, and she slammed her hand on my book. “This is page thirteen, now use your ears.” Honestly, she just came, she just grabbed my left ear, and she just twisted it. And I could… I just heard that cracking sound, and I just starting crying. And she told me, “you be quiet, you quit crying, you don’t want all the other children laughing at you.” So that’s what, that’s what I went through.

I got a lot of people making fun of me because I was shy and I just, always cried when they made fun of me. I always… I think that’s why I’m pretty shy and I get scared for somebody to make fun of me because I’m self conscious of what they, you know, what they used to call me. They called me all, you know names. You know, I just didn’t feel good about myself because I thought “well, maybe that’s how I look.” Maybe that’s how, you know. I started to look at myself like that, like as… like I was ugly. That’s why I can’t even look at a person to this day, I think I’m still like that. I can’t look at anybody, face to face because I’m thinking “gee, maybe that’s what they’re saying. Maybe in their mind they’re saying, gee she’s ugly.”

These are just some of the things I encountered, it wasn’t the supervisors or them doing that but it was the other kids that did that to me. And I just like, I still know those people; I still know them and they’re still you know on the reserve. But I just don’t bother with them. I just try not to, I try to smile at them but yeah, well, they smile back, too. But I just think, I wonder if they remember what they did to me.

– Celeste Bull Bear (Bear Chief)

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Notes:

Oral interview with Celeste Bull Bear (Bear Chief). Conducted, translated, and transcribed by Gwendora Bear Chief. Old Sun Community College, March 28, 2022.