UnBQ Third Floor/Dormitories
The 3rd Floor of University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ). This floor originally contained staff rooms and teaching spaces. Click on the triangle to load the point cloud. Labels on the point cloud indicate past room functions.
“…we have been pampering and coaxing the Indians; that we must take a new course, we must vindicate the position of the white man, we must teach the Indians what law is; we must not pauperise them, as they say we have been doing.” – Sir John A. MacDonald 1885
Today the third floor of University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ) houses a combination of offices and classroom spaces. When in operation as a residential school, this floor was used primarily by staff who lived at the school. Throughout the years, the third floor also contained classrooms and other teaching spaces, such as the sewing room.
Fire escapes were located directly off the stairwells, and led from the roof down to the back parking lot of the building. Students would sometimes sneak out of the school via fire escapes, sometimes to steal food or go into town. As with other floors, the boys’ area was located on the east side of the school, and the girls’ dormitory on the west side. The senior dormitories were for students aged fourteen and above. The number of beds in these dorms likely changed through the years – especially as overcrowding became more of a problem. A small sink and bathroom was also attached to each dorm.
Public bathing was a traumatic experience for many students. The cutting off of hair and the use of powders and oils in an ill-conceived attempt at ridding children of lice were horrifying experiences. At the Alberta hearing in 2013, Margaret Cardinal reflected on the horror of having her hair cut off at BQ where she was “herded off to the showers” and was later forced to participate in the abuse by the school administration who made her scrub the younger children (Cardinal, 2013).
Students did not have personal belongings with them during their stay. Upon arrival to the school, children were stripped of their personal belongings and assigned a number with corresponding school uniform. The clothing the children wore to the school would be bundled up and kept in these cupboards, only to be returned when the children returned home.
The girls’ dormitory has since been converted into a classroom, boardroom, offices, and storage space, and the boys’ into a classroom and offices. At the time of operation, each dormitory would have each been one large room. Adjacent to each dormitory was a bedroom for a staff member. These bedrooms were located beside the dormitories so staff could easily monitor students’ behaviour at all hours.
Overcrowding
Denominational rivalries were another reason residential schools like Blue Quills were overcrowded, and churches often competed for students against schools run by churches of other faiths. For instance, despite already being overcrowded, Joseph Guy OMI requested that Sacred Heart increase its pupilage 25% – from 60 to 75 – because otherwise the children would be sent to a Protestant school. In this case, the OMI proposed that they use one of the old decommissioned mission buildings as a dormitory for these children while they awaited a new BQ building.
This resulted in chronic over crowding at all three schools and left little flexibility for accommodating students if buildings were damaged due to a fire or flooding.
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. Your keyboard's arrow keys can also be used. Travel to different areas of the third floor by clicking on the floating arrows.
This image gallery includes modern and archival photos of UnBQ's 4th floor


















Laser scanning data can be used to create “as built” architectural plans which can support repair and restoration work to Old Sun Community College. This plan was created using Autodesk Revit and forms part of a larger building information model (BIM) of the school. The Revit drawings and laser scanning data for this school are securely archived with access controlled by the Old Sun Advisory Committee.
Some of the threats faced by Indigenous students attending residential schools came from the buildings themselves. The architectural plans contained in this archive, which have been constructed using the laser scanning data, illustrate how poorly these schools were designed from a safety perspective. There were three specific areas that placed the health and safety of students at great risk: Fire Hazards and Protection Measures; Water Quality, and Sanitation and Hygiene. As you explore the archive, you will find more information about the nature of these hazards and their impact on students.

John Janvier- Not Allowed to Speak Our Language
We were not allowed to speak our language. If we were… if some staff member overheard us, they would report us, and we would go to court or whatever he [likely referring to the principal] called it, because we were not allowed to speak our language. We were supposed to lose our language, and we made sure that we didn’t speak it within earshot of the staff members.
During Sundays, there was the only time, the boys play ball, and the girls would come to the boys’ playground. There was one, one, well, she was a girl then, she’s probably around…
I’m not going to mention her name, but she was from the same community, and she could see that I was lonesome, I guess and she used to take me aside. Somewheres with me, and then she would speak Dene with me. You know we’d have a little conversation in Dene, and that made me feel better. That made me feel good, in in my language, yes.
So that was one of, I always regarded her as a big sister, today, because she used to do that for me. Anyway, we’re not even allowed to speak to our siblings, I had, had a sister that’s two years older than me. We were not allowed to speak to each other.
I don’t know what the thing was there. But anyways, that’s part of the training, or I don’t know what a lot of term is, I’m not a very good English speaker.
I’ve lost a lot of teeth. They used to take me to a dentist in town and drill holes my teeth, and say the fill it up with something, I don’t know what they filled it with. Over the years I haven’t lost all my teeth because they used to drill in there. So, I can’t really speak good English, and I can’t even, swear very well in English, so I don’t swear.
But anyway, that’s part of the story.
– John Janvier
Notes:
John Janvier Testimony. SC142_part03. Shared at Alberta National Event (ABNE) Sharing Circle. March 28, 2014. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation holds copyright. https://archives.nctr.ca/SC142_part03

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