UnBQ Blue Quills Timeline
Located on Treaty 6 territory near St Paul des Metis station Blue Quills Indian Residential School replaced the Sacred Heart Indian School, which operated from 1898-1931. The timeline below presents a chronological overview of significant events in the school’s history.
Blue Quills Indian Residential School was also known by the following names: Blue Quills Institution; Blue Quills Indian Boarding School; Blue Quills School; Sacred Heart; Sacred Heart Mission; Blue Quills Residential School; Blue Quills Boarding School;; Blue Quills Roman Catholic Indian Residential School. Students attending this school were from the following communities: Alberta – Saddle Lake Reserve, Cold Lake Reserve, Long Lake Reserve, Kehewin Reserve. Saddle Lake, Beaver Lake, Cold Lake, Goodfish (Whitefish) Lake, Frog Lake, Heart Lake, Kehewin Saskatchewan – Students from bands from Onion Lake Agency (SK) also attended Blue Quills IRS. Blue Quills was operated by Grey Nuns of Montreal and one Oblate Father (principal) until 1926, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) assumed administrative responsibility in the late 1920s. Blue Quills Indian Residential School was Funded by the Government of Canada
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Item One UnBQ
OMI sets up Notre Dame des Victories boarding school at Lac La Biche
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1898
The school buildings are moved to Saddle Lake First Nation and it is renamed Blue Quills(Sacred Heart) the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) reimburses the church retroactively in 1900
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1908
A new wing is constructed at the Saddle Lake school
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1924
Clerical responsibility for school administration begins to be transferred from the Order of Grey Nuns to the OMI
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1927
OMI increases pupilage from 60 to 69, despite overcrowding. An older boys’ dormitory is established at a mission building
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1929
The DIA identifies a site for moving the school from Saddle Lake FN to near St. Paul and purchases the land: SEC 11 - TWP 58 - RGE 10 W4