Showing 3 results

Archival description
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Penelakut Island (B.C.)
Print preview View:

Kuper Island Indian Industrial School fonds

  • PR-0609
  • Fonds
  • 1889-1938

The fonds consists of records of the Kuper Island Indian Industrial School and includes correspondence, daily journals, pupil progress reports, punishments books, a clothing issue register, agricultural work record book and a trades instructor memorandum book, quarterly reports and accounts and stores records books.

Kuper Island Indian Industrial School

Kuper Island Residential School records

Series consists of records created by the Sisters of St. Ann relating to their work at Kuper Island Residential School.

In 1890, Bishop Lemmons requested that The Sisters of St. Ann assist the de Montfort Fathers in administering the Kuper Island Industrial School, located on what is now Penelakut Island. The Sisters operated under the de Montfort Fathers until 1957 when the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) took over administration of the school. The OMI remained until 1973, and the Sisters until 1975.

The Sisters were responsible for educating students, and their work included planning lessons, teaching, planning religious celebrations and organizing extracurricular activities for the girls. Primary classes of boys were taught by Sisters, but all other aspects of the lives of boys at the school was supervised by the male religious order.

This series consists of two subseries: A) Convent subseries and B) School subseries. The convent subseries consists of the records relating to the activities of the Sister’s of St. Ann’s Convent/Local House and includes chronicles, local house minutes, accounts, a monograph, a history of the school and personal photographs. The school subseries consists of records relating to education of students, and includes correspondence, student art, photographs and ephemera.

While the chronicles are intended as records that document the happening at the convent primarily, the chronicler would also document students and school activities, though inconsistently.

Sister Norma Jeffs interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Memories of Indian residential schools in B.C. RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979-07-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Sister Norma Jeffs' recollections of her experiences as a teacher: background -- born in Vancouver, serious illnesses as a youth, decision to enter convent; why she chose the Sisters of St. Ann; first missionary experience on Kuper [Island] -- getting to know the Natives, teaching school, staff at Kuper, isolation from the mainland, dreary winters, runaway children; question of whether it was wrong to force own culture and religion on to Natives; experiences in Mission and Kamloops; positive and negative responses from Natives who went to residential schools; teaching the Native children English; some very bright students -- many success stories; differences between Kuper and Mission -- she set up a home-economics class in Mission, Oblates in Mission (missionary men from France); initially many Native parents did not want to send their children to school; canning fruit at St. Mary's Mission; beginning the mixing of boys and girls at school social events. TRACK 2: Sister Norma Jeffs remembers her time in residential schools: complaints Natives have about the schools -- they lost their culture through the church; boys mean to some of the girls; mistreatment of some Native children once they left the residential schools and were integrated into the main system; residential schools sheltered Natives from discriminatory world; language -- Nanaimo Natives now trying to teach their language to youth; many children from residential schools married each other; T.B. was very prevalent among Natives at Mission; difficulties getting money from the government; Indian Agents -- some very helpful; parents did not have much to do with the residential schools; supervising the dormitory at Kamloops residential school -- few problems, the girls listened to her; integration of different Native groups. (End of interview)