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“It has been strongly impressed upon myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will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

Olivia Good Rider- Things I Saw in the Girls’ Playroom

That one time the whistle had blown, I think we were going to eat or going to the classroom, I can’t remember. But anyways, a bunch of the girls who were my friends, when I did something they would follow me. They had to do what I was doing. I quickly went to drink water and they followed me. I was just going out the door and the supervisor just grabbed me by jumper with both hands and started to shake me. She told me, “so you are the leader!” I was getting older then and I was starting to understand more English by then. She was shaking me and told me, “so you are the instigator, so you are the ringleader.” I didn’t even know what that meant. You know we all stood back in line, and I was telling the girls “don’t follow me”, now I’m the one who gets into trouble. And sometimes, I can’t remember what it is called, but in the playroom there was a storeroom where they put our play items, like balls. Sometimes girls would be locked in there and it wasn’t a pleasant place for me.

Even to this day when I enter this building all these memories come back to me, you know what had happened there. I would say I was treated bad down there in the playroom too.

They used to make fun of me, they would hit me sometimes. The supervisors used to always pull my braids and shake me by my head. I used to think “I can’t do this because I will get hit or get punished.” I didn’t want to get involved in some of the activities, you know, if the other girls were doing something. It’s always, all of the time that we were afraid. You know you do not talk back, and not listen. Because you are going to get it somehow, if you did not do something properly or if you refuse. You couldn’t refuse, you have to follow what they told us.

– Olivia Good Rider

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