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| Aboriginal stone sculptures greet visitors as they drive into the college. |
Today we visited the first native college - Blue Quills First Nations College, located in northern Alberta, about a three hour drive north of Edmonton.
The Blue Quills First Nations College was granted university status in September of 2015.
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| Blue Quills First Nations College, Alberta, Canada |
This is a good news story as the aboriginal people had "turned a negative into a positive".
They had turned one of the notorious Residential Schools into a First Nation College!
We have been visiting a northern Alberta Reserve for the past few days and learned a number of things of the Residential School Policy and how cruel and inhuman the Canadian Government had treated our indigenous people by forcibly removing children from their parents starting in the late 1800's.
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| The displays inside the Blue Quills First Nations College explains the history of the Residential Schools |
We were fortunate to have G. ( a former student at that school) as our tour guides during our visit of the college,
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| A former church chapel is now a library |
We toured the library which used to be the church where aboriginal children had to attend service each morning.
The boys' and girls' dormitory rooms, the classrooms and various rooms that once housed the aboriginal children had all been transformed into offices and meeting rooms.
The history and past of the Residential School were painful experiences for their former students.
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| Priests and nuns had their separate bathroom on the third floor |
Much efforts had been made to erase the memories of the school,
We saw very few traces of the past in the current building, except for the bathroom exclusively used by the priests and nuns of the school.
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| The kitchen area where food was prepared for the children |
The Kitchen
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| Dining area for the children is now a cafeteria for college students |
Dining Hall
The College now offers a number of programs to students such as Psychology, Early Childhood Education and Arts.
Beautuiful artwork reflecting native themes by students from the Arts Department were displayed everywhere in the College.
Many of us paused to admire these wonderful art pieces.
The university is expanding and new buildings have been added to the college.
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| New buildings are added for the college |
The Blue Quills University is open to aboriginal students as well as all Canadian students.
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| Tepee tents were being set up on the college ground for an upcoming cultural camp for aboriginal students |
Visiting the university was one of the most inspiring experiences we have had on this trip out west!
R.T.
Blue Quills University
Alberta
May, 2016
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