Chapel – Digitally Preserving Former Indian Residential Schools in Alberta

Mandel Old Woman- It’s Worse than Being in Jail

For a four year old doing that, and mopping and scrubbing the floors and polishing the floors with a machine. You know at four years you’re not supposed be doing that.

Rita Jane Many Guns- And Then Another Time

I went to the bathroom we were already in bed, I got caught for getting up and I had to kneel outside, outside the door. I don’t know how long, my knees were really hurting from kneeling down

Eileen Black- The Teachers Were so Cruel

They tell us, “you are stupid. You are stupid, you don’t know anything, and you are not going to ever learn anything. You are so stupid in English.”

Treffery Deerfoot- I Got My Lickings After Church

I would ring the bell and wasn’t the time.. And while I sure got to licking after that… It was supposed to be a ceremony of praising God, but I got my lickings after church.

Margaret Cardinal- I Never Saw My Brother

So I had to spend my time in the chapel because the nun said that I deserved the wickedness that I had in my life and that’s how I’m paying for it and that I had to spend it in the chapel. And if they couldn’t put me in the chapel, I was put in the stairwell.

Felix Muskego- The Many Lost Years

Made you pray, maybe seven times a day. Go to church every morning, whether you like it or not, on your hands and knees, on a cold cement floor to say your Catholic prayers.

Old Sun Chapel

This computer reconstruction approximates how the chapel at Old Sun would have appeared at Old Sun Indian Residential School. It was created using historic photos as well as descriptions provided by former students.

Yvonne Stimson- Chasing a Ghost

We all ran to the fence; we were yelling loudly and waving. It would stop and start… We finally noticed, it wasn’t touching the ground, it was floating.

Alvina Bear Chief- They Chased Me

They were just chasing me around downstairs, there was nobody around. That boiler room, they chased me out of there, the mother was right in there. They couldn’t catch me because I was a fast runner. And I was really scared of them.

UnBQ Library

The Library at University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ). This Important area originally served as the chapel at Blue Quills Indian Residential School. The chapel features prominently in the architecture of the school, as well as the lives of the children and community members who attended services here. Click on the triangle to load the point cloud.