Society of Friends of St. Ann's Academy Has A New Website:
https://www.sfsaa.org/
Starting in 2003 and continuing for a number of years, this was the website for the Society of Friends of St. Ann's Academy. The site has seen several different design iterations.
In 2016 SFSAA sponsored the very first Women in Leadership Conference held in October of that year. The conference has been held annually since then.
The new owner of this domain has chosen to keep the site's content for historical interest and to point visitors to the current website for SFSAA.
Content is from the site's archived pages.
If you have inadvertantly ended up here while looking for the Society of Friends of St. Ann's Academy, their current website is found at:
https://www.sfsaa.org/
Society of Friends of St. Ann's Academy
PO Box 9188 - 835 Humboldt St
Victoria BC V8W 9E6
Phone: 250-953-8820
We will honour, celebrate and promote the historical, social and spiritual legacy and traditions of St. Ann’s Academy, Victoria, BC
IN THE BEGINNING …
The story of St. Ann’s Academy is interwoven with the history of British Columbia. In 1857, when gold was discovered along the Fraser River, thousands of men and their families poured into the region through the tiny port of Fort Victoria. Earlier that same year, Roman Catholic Bishop Modeste Demers, whose Episcopal territory stretched from the Rockies to the Pacific and from the Columbia River to the North Pole, had journeyed to Quebec to appeal for help in his missionary work among the Aboriginal peoples, settlers and Hudson’s Bay Company personnel.There he met with the Sisters of St. Ann, a congregation of women religious, dedicated to the education of rural boys and girls at a time of high illiteracy in Quebec. Their foundress was Marie Esther Blondin, who was born in the small rural village of Terrebonne, Quebec, in 1809, became a remarkable teacher and as Mother Mary Ann, had formed a group of 45 Sisters by the time of Demers’ appeal.
All 45 volunteered to “go west,” but only four could be chosen. All were from Quebec and for them, Canada’s west coast was like a foreign country. The two-month journey took them from Montreal to the Isthmus of Panama, across the Isthmus by train, then by boat to San Francisco and on to Victoria, where they were housed in a log cabin without light, heat or water. But on June 7, 1858, just rwo days after the Sisters’ arrival, classes began, with one end of the cabin serving as a schoolroom during the day. By the end of the first year, 56 pupils of diverse backgrounds had enrolled.
From this humble beginning, St. Ann’s Academy grew in stages, as demand increased and funds were raised, to become one of the largest, best-equipped educational institutions in the region. For more than 100 years, the Academy was the west coast headquarters of the pioneering Sisters, who provided schooling, nursing services, missionaries and novitiate training for the province and beyond. Though declining enrollment and high operating costs forced them to close the Academy in 1973, the Sisters of St. Ann continue their ministry in education, health care ecumenical and retreat work, and other services to the larger community in which they now reside.
History of the Society
The Society of Friends of St. Ann’s Academy was formed during the redevelopment and restoration of St. Ann’s Academy that was led by the British Columbia Buildings Corporation in 1995. A small group of St. Ann’s Academy Alumnae met in July 1996 to discuss a general reunion and in the fall, others joined together for presentations and informative talks, the result of which demonstrated the need for involvement in the proposed restoration of St. Ann’s Academy Interpretive Centre, chapel and grounds. A series of gatherings occurred in the homes of keen individuals, who traveled from Salt Spring Island, Shawnigan, Duncan and Bowser to participate. Enthusiasm grew, and at a membership meeting held in February 1997, 50 people began the sign-up of what was eventually to total over 300 members. Members, participants and supporters became known as the “Friends”.
A membership fee was established and in May 1997, and office space, a computer and a telephone were provided for the Society in the Provincial Capital Commission building on Pandora Ave. Shortly thereafter office space was provided on-site. An effective working relationship then developed with the Provincial Capital Commission Academy Site Advisory Board, stewards of the site. Updates on the restoration of St. Ann’s were provided during a meeting of June 1997 and graduate research students invited participants to submit stories about the Academy for the Interpretive Centre. On July 12, 1997, members provided their assistance for the official re-opening ceremonies on the grounds of St. Ann’s Academy.
At the first Annual General Meeting held on September 20, 1998, an executive was elected for the Society of Friends. Registered Charity Status was received on October 1, 1998.
Today the current executive and members of the society carry out ongoing work in support of the academy, undertaking advocacy, education and fundraising projects, while melding the values of the past to the present.
Our Founders
A SCHOOL IN THE MAKING
Somehow, the four young Sisters from Quebec managed to accommodate both day students and boarders in their log cabin school. Mattresses were laid on the floor at night and rolled up during the day. Cooking proceeded on one side of the chimney while school was conducted on the other, with the children perched on rough boards placed over packing boxes. An early boarding school student, Elizabeth Eddy, who came north from San Francisco with her parents for the Gold Rush of 1858, recalled some fifty years later:
"I look back and see how hard those four Sisters worked; they sawed the logs with a cross-cut saw, and we children sat on the logs to keep them steady. It was fun for us, but hard work for them."
A year later, two more Sisters arrived from Quebec. They were Sister Mary Bon Secours, a music teacher, and English-speaking Sister Mary Providence, who at the age of 22 was already well qualified to assume the duties of Provincial Superior. Under her leadership, the Sisters' pioneer school expanded, flourished, and earned itself an enviable reputation.
One early student discovered this for herself. Dolly Helmcken, the daughter of Victoria's well-known doctor, completed eight years of classes at St. Ann's and left at the age of 17 planning to go to England for further studies. However, Dr. Helmcken thought it prudent that first she should spend a year being "finished" in Ottawa, to compensate for any gaps left by her pioneer school education in Victoria. But the Ottawa plan was dropped when, after half a year there, Dolly took top honours and wrote to her father that she was wasting her time!
In 1871, construction began on what was to become the centre section of the Academy as we know it today. In his ceremonial address at the laying of the building's corner-stone, Father C. Seghers paid tribute to the Sisters' mission in the west:
"The building .. .[will be} … devoted to a twofold object – charity and education. It is destined to be a school for the education of young ladies …. There will [also} be in this institution an asylum for fatherless children, for needy orphans. One shudders when thinking of the woeful lot that threatened many a forsaken child in this country had not the good Sisters of Saint Ann taken them under their fostering care and maternal protection."
Our Building
A BUILDING OF SIGNIFICANCE
The central section of St. Ann's Academy, constructed in 1871, was the first four-storey masonry building in Victoria. Designed by Joseph Michaud, C.S.v, and built in red brick by Charles Vereydhen, it featured neo-classical detailing such as pilasters, a balustraded parapet and a pedimented gable roof, and was finished with grey, sand-embedded paint to resemble stone.
By 1886, the Academy had expanded again with the "east block," built by John Teague in harmony with the original Michaud scheme. Classically inspired additions included a relocated main entrance with an impressive curved double stair and a pedimented gable pavilion. Tripled in size, the Academy now housed dining rooms, dormitories, recreation rooms, parlours, a music conservatory, library, infirmary, dispensary, classrooms and administrative offices.
The Academy's remarkable Chapel, also added in 1886, was originally built in 1858 by Father Michaud to serve as Victoria's first Roman Catholic Cathedral. Featuririg simple main classical details common among the small parish churches of Quebec, it was constructed of logs and timber from Vancouver Island and redwood from California, with hand-carved ornamentation on ceiling, pillars and altars. Outgrown by its congregation, the little former Cathedral was raised onto log skids, hauled by horses, moved into position over the main kitchen of the Academy and encased in brick. Of particular interest in the Chapel are the original oil paintings behind and beside the main altar, art glass windows dating from 1913, and the magnificent Casavant pipe organ made in 1913 in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
The third and final section of the Academy, "the west wing," was designed and built by Thomas Hooper in 1910. Unlike the earlier sections, Hooper's wing included a fifth storey topped by a mansard roof with dormer windows. This was reminiscent of the Second Empire style, a popular feature of the Church's institutional buildings across Canada late in the 19th century. The combination of architectural styles incorporated into the Academy over its 39-year construction period reflects the influence of Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival, Second Empire and traditional building practices of rural Quebec. These were common features of convent buildings at the time, both in Quebec and in the newly settled West. St. Ann's Academy is especially notable because it incorporates an historic chapel. One of the oldest religious buildings in British Columbia, the Chapel is, like the structure which houses it, of local, provincial and national significance.
Members
BE A PART OF THE FRIENDS
As a registered non-profit organization, we rely heavily on donations and memberships to continue on in achieving our goals. Membership is open to anyone interested in collaborating with the Friends and the Provincial Government’s National Heritage Site in the ongoing development of the St. Ann’s Academy site, heritage grounds and building, various projects and the Interpretive Centre.
Members elect the Executive Board at the Annual General Meeting, usually held annually in late Spring.
It would be our pleasure to have you join us in caring for this site and developing its potential as a favoured place of locals and visitors alike.
“My child, the more deeply a tree sends its roots into the soil, the more vigourous is its growth!”
(Blessed Marie Anne Blondin, Founder of the Sisters of St. Ann)
MEMBERSHIP TYPES:
- *NEW* Student Membership FREE
- Annual Sustaining Membership $20.00 (Canadian)
- Member receives a tax deductible receipt and a one year subscription to our newsletter “Sequoia”.
- Annual Sponsoring Membership $100.00 (Canadian)
- Member receives the same benefits of the sustaining member and is enrolled on the sponsors’ page of the newsletter.
- Annual Advertising Member $100.00 (Canadian)
- Member receives a one year subscription and advertising space in “Sequoia” as well as a web-site link.
BECOMING A VOLUNTEER
St. Ann’s Academy National Historic Site has on-going volunteer opportunities, such as:
- Docent
- Wedding Volunteer
- Special Event Volunteer
- Research Assistant Volunteer
- School Program Volunteer
- Collections Management Volunteer
If you would like any information about any of these positions, please contact:
The Society of Friends of St. Ann’s Academy~~Victoria, B.C.
250-953-8820
info@friendsofstannsacademy.com
2016 Women and Leadership Conference
Dates: October 13 – 15, 2016 (Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon)
Locations: St. Ann’s Academy and the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM)
Cost: $60 ($25 low- and no-wage earners)
This conference will be a place of encounter, an opportunity to come together in conversation and explore women’s leadership, activism, and creative ideas and practices in response to the pressing gender and social issues of our time. The conference will include panel discussions with prominent women in the arts, politics, and Indigenous, social and environmental movements. Through their stories, we will learn how they teach, lead and act at times overtly, at other times subversively, but always purposefully and courageously upon the gendered Canadian stage.
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Related: This was just a wonderful conference as you will see from the agenda and the descriptions of the workshops. I had traveled to British Columbia with several friends to attend this 2016 Women and Leadership Conference. My best friend was a graduate of St. Anne's and she went on to pass the bar exam in Louisiana and now works for a New Orleans law firm focused on maritime law. She's a brilliant person who taught herself html and helped build the firm's website - check it out. She's the one who turned us onto this amazing event, where we mingled with some amazingly talented women who are themselves leaders teaching leadership skills.
I was especially interested in the realities of gender equality and inequality of today's society. Even though this conference was aimed towards Canadians, I felt I could also adapt their approach using conversations and stories to explore women’s leadership, activism, and creativity here in the US for a class I was planning for the following year at the school where I teach. But this was a superb outing for a bunch of friends who enjoyed the program and the companionship.
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Agenda
Women and Leadership: Radical Conversations on Gender Justice, Art and Reconciliation
CONFERENCE AGENDA
Thursday Evening October 13 St. Ann’s Academy Auditorium
4:00 – 4:50 Registration
5:00 – 5:30 Opening Remarks:
Welcome to the Territory: May Sam
Welcome and Orientation: Darlene Clover, Conference Co-Chair Logistics/programme and workshops: Colleen Kasting
5:30 – 7:30 Opening Panel: Reflecting on Gender Justice
Chair: Robina Thomas Director, Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement. School of Social Work, UVic
Speakers:
Maureen Maloney School of Public Policy SFU
Merna Forster Historian and author
Fay Blaney Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre
Boma Brown VI Public Research Group
7:30 – 8:30 Wine and Cheese Reception St. Ann’s Academy Auditorium
Friday Morning October 14 St. Ann’s Academy Auditorium
8:00 – 8:30 Coffee and Tea (and Registration)
8:30 – 10:00 Morning Panel: Cultural and Aesthetic Leadership
Chair: Jan Ross Curator, Emily Carr House
Speakers:
Paulina Grainger Theatre Artist, Inter-Cultural
Association
Sandra Meigs Feminist Artist and Fine Arts
Professor, UVic
Jennifer Van de Pol Artist and Educator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Janet Rogers Writer, Radio Host/Producer,
Performance Poet
10:00 – 10:30 BREAK: Move to workshops or tours
10:30 – 12:40 Art-making Workshops (details on page 5)
Breaking form: The ghazal, triolet Yvonne Bloomer
& sonnet as feminist poetic forms St. Ann’s Parlour
Puppets for Rule Benders Julie Gennai
RBCM Exhibits Room (ground floor)
Showing Disobedience: A Lauren Jerke
Theatre Workshop St. Ann’s Auditorium stage
The Feisty Women Quilt Kristin Miller and Nancy Crozier
RBCM Student Lunch Room
(ground floor)
Silk Screening Disobedience Lindsay Delaronde & Naomi Kennedy
RBCM Community Room
(ground floor)
Tours
Conversations with Emily Carr: Jan Ross
A Unique Tour Meet just outside St Ann’sAuditorium
Sisters of St Ann’s Historic Tour Sisters Mary Ellen King, Sheila Moss
and Frieda Raab
Meet just outside of St. Ann’sAuditorium
Friday Afternoon, October 15St. Ann’s Academy Auditorium
12:50 – 2:00 Box Lunch: St. Ann’s Auditorium
Chair: Carmela Vezza Conference Co-Chair
Storytelling and Reconciliation Karen Whetung
2:15 – 4:45 Workshops Continued Same locations as morning for full day workshops
Breaking Form
Puppetry for Rule Benders Showing Disobedience: A Theatre Workshop
Silk Screening Disobedience
The Feisty Woman Quilt
Tours and other workshops
Living Languages Exhibition (RBCM) Martha Black (Note Time: 2:15 to 3:35)
Purchase tickets ahead of time Meet in RBCM Main Room
Nurturing the Creative Spirit: Carey Pallister
Sister Artists and their Art. Meet in RBCM Main Room
Sisters of St Ann’s Historic Tour Sisters Mary Ellen King, Sheila Moss
and Frieda Raab
Meet outside St Ann’s Auditorium
5:15 – 6:00 Informal reflection and networking time (refreshments in St. Ann’s Auditorium)
6:00 – 7:45 Evening Panel: Warrior Women St. Ann’s Academy Auditorium
Chair: Elizabeth May Leader, Green Party of Canada
Speakers:
Jennifer Bennett RAdm Canadian Department of National Defence
Vicky Husband Environmentalist, Order of Canada
Judith Sayers Law & Business Faculty, UVic,
Past Chief Hupacasath First Nation
Charlayne Thornton-Jo Activist and Municipal Councillor –
City of Victoria
Saturday Morning October 15 All workshops at RBCM
9:00 -11:45 Workshops
Feminist Museum Hack Kim Gough
Purchase ticket ahead of time Meet in RBCM Foyer
Metissage Catherine Etmanski & Kathy Bishop
RBCM Exhibits Classroom
Word and Image Activist Art Kimberly Croswell
A Stencilling Workshop RBCM Student Lunch Room
Workshops Continued
Pink and Blue: Navigating and Julia Norman
Shaping modern society and RBCM Community Room
Gender equality (Note Time: 9:00 – 10:30)
Tours
Conversations with Emily Carr: Jan Ross
A Unique Tour 207 Government Street
Radical Artist Walk Jennifer Van de Pol
Meet at picnic tables by Mungo Martin House
“In Defiance” Photography Lindsay Delaronde
Exhibition Artist Talk Legacy Gallery 630 Yates Street
(Note Time: 10:00 – 11:15)
12:00 – 12:45 Open Lunch (on your own)
Saturday Afternoon October 15
1:00 Welcome to Mungo Martin House
1:15 A House Story – Karen Whetung
1:25 – 3:15 Closing Panel: Women in Politics: Feminist Perspectives
Chair: Catherine McGregor
Speakers:
Jean Crowder MP, NDP (former)
Shirley Ackland Mayor, Port McNeil
Carole James MLA, NDP
Edith Loring-Kuhanga School Trustee
3:15 – 4:00 Closing Activities Iroquois Women Shuffle Dance Lindsay Delaronde
Workshop Descriptions
Conference Workshop Outlines*
Breaking Form: the ghazal, triolet and sonnet (Yvonne Bloomer) all day Friday as feminist poetic forms
Students will spend the day writing poetry. We will start with warm-up exercises to get the language flowing and build toward writing new poems in the form of ghazals, triolets and sonnets. We will also read examples and explore why and how these forms are feminist and can be used to break with tradition and take on existing forms with new voices and new insights into how constraint (in form) can build freedom in voice.
Conversations with Emily Carr: (Jan Ross) Friday or Sat. am
Jan will be hosting a ‘salon’ at Emily Carr House with Carr herself as the muse.
Feminist Museum Hack (Kathy Sanford) Saturday morning
Consider how the Modern History Gallery at the Royal BC Museum could be changed to include more of a feminist perspective on history. During this workshop you will visit the gallery, identify an area to be “hacked” and then work in small teams to create a temporary installation to address the missing feminist narrative.
Feminist Religious art walk about (Jennifer Van de Pol) Saturday morning
Join Jennifer for a “radical” walk around downtown Victoria, and learn histories of women who have an impact on our communities. This is an artist-led walk, a creative response to critical gender and social issues of our time. Together, through movement, dialogue and listening, we will explore questions such as how we take up space together in public, as women, have the potential to be activism?
Living Languages (Martha Black) Friday afternoon
This workshop in the galleries of the Royal BC Museum explores issues of representation and reconciliation in museums by contrasting two iconic installations – Our Living Languages: First Peoples’ Voices in British Columbia, which opened in 2014, and the First Peoples gallery, created almost 40 years before.
Metissage (Catherine Etmanski and Kathy Bishop) Saturday morning
Creating their own métissages, participants will use their own stories and ideas around women in leadership to explore individual and collective themes, and engage in radical conversations for social change.
Pink and Blue: navigating (and shaping!) modern society Saturday morning
with gender equality (Julia Norman)
Explore some of the realities of gender equality and inequality of today’s society here in Canada and around the world through activity based facilitation; Learn how to shape the growth of today’s society in a more just and equitable way.
Puppeteering for Rule Benders (Julie Gennai) all day Friday
A workshop of radical giant puppetry for women. With simple materials and the labour of many hands, participants will construct and work collectively with a series of oversized puppets.
Showing Disobedience: A theatre workshop (Lauren Jerke) all day Friday
This workshop will use drama, a historical story about an extraordinary aboriginal woman, and our own experiences to explore what it means to be ‘disobedient’.
Silk Screening Disobedience (Lindsay Delaronde and Naomi Kennedy) all day Friday
This will be a facilitated silk-screen session. We will screen print power images, symbols and text that represents the major themes of this converence- political, feminist, activist- imagery of dis Obedient woman throughout history. These T-shirts will later be displayed in an exhibition titled “Dis- Obedient Women”. Delaronde and Kennedy will have all screens prepared and the use of paint and stencil can be added to design a t-shirt.
Sisters’ Art in the Archives (Carey Pallister) Friday afternoon
Learn about the history and the work of the Sisters of St. Ann through their art over the years
Sisters’ tour Friday am or pm
Sisters Mary Ellen, Frieda and Sheila are happy to have the opportunity to share a little of the history of the presence of the SSA in the Humboldt area and to boast of the creativity and daring of the Sisters of St. Ann since its foundation in 1850.
The Feisty Women Quilt (Kristin Miller and Nancy Crozier) all day Friday
The Feisty Women Quilt will portray our favourite activist heroines in a group-made tribute quilt using simple stitching and art techniques. We will put images onto fabric, add text, and embellish with stitches, paint, and markers, then combine our efforts into a quilt celebrating feisty women.
Word & Image Activist Art: a Stencilling workshop Saturday morning
(Kimberly Croswell)
Decentralized leadership practices are the rock-bed for establishing a shared sense of purpose while inspiring expressive diversity. We will explore these practices. Referencing patriarchy, participants will then be invited to create large-scale cardboard stencils to express support for, or outrage against, an issue.
*Note: Most workshops will be limited to 20 or fewer people. Workshop registration will be on first come/first serve basis.
More Background On FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com
FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com is best understood as a preserved historical website associated with the Society of Friends of St. Ann’s Academy, a nonprofit organization created to support and interpret one of Victoria, British Columbia’s most important heritage landmarks.
The domain began serving as the Society's website in 2003 and remained associated with the organization for a number of years. The Society subsequently moved its active online presence to SFSAA.org. FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com is no longer the Society's official website. Its current owner has instead retained substantial material from earlier versions of the site as a historical resource while directing people looking for the Society to its newer website.
That distinction is important. The present FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com should not be interpreted as an independently operated historical attraction or as the current official site of St. Ann's Academy. Its significance comes from preserving an earlier online record of the Society of Friends, its mission, the Academy's history, membership and volunteer programs, and activities such as the 2016 Women and Leadership Conference.
The website therefore functions almost like a digital time capsule. Its pages help document how a community heritage organization interpreted St. Ann's Academy and encouraged the public to participate in preserving its legacy during an important period in the site's modern history.
What Is St. Ann's Academy?
St. Ann's Academy is a major historic complex at 835 Humboldt Street in downtown Victoria, British Columbia. Its location places it within walking distance of many of Victoria's best-known attractions and institutions. The Academy is only a few blocks from the Inner Harbour and close to the Royal BC Museum, British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Fairmont Empress, Beacon Hill Park and Emily Carr House.
That location is part of what makes the Academy remarkable. Despite occupying more than six acres near the heart of a modern provincial capital, the grounds retain a comparatively peaceful, park-like atmosphere.
Visitors frequently describe the property as a "hidden gem." Its lawns, mature trees, historic architecture and former convent setting can seem surprisingly removed from the busy streets immediately surrounding it.
The site's historical importance extends far beyond its attractiveness as a downtown landmark. St. Ann's Academy was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989 and became a Provincial Historic Site in 1998. The Victoria Heritage Foundation describes it as one of Victoria's foremost landmarks, placing it in distinguished company with the Parliament Buildings, Empress Hotel and Craigdarroch Castle.
The Sisters of St. Ann Arrive in Victoria
The story behind the Academy begins before the present building existed.
Roman Catholic Bishop Modeste Demers travelled to Quebec seeking assistance for his enormous western diocese. The Sisters of St. Ann, a teaching congregation founded by Marie Esther Blondin, responded. Four Sisters were selected for the difficult journey to Vancouver Island.
They arrived in Victoria in June 1858.
Their journey illustrates just how geographically isolated Vancouver Island was from eastern Canada at the time. The Sisters travelled from Montreal toward Panama, crossed the isthmus and continued north through San Francisco before reaching Victoria.
Only two days after arriving, they began teaching.
Their first school was extraordinarily modest. Students and Sisters shared primitive facilities, and the same spaces had to serve multiple purposes. Nevertheless, enrollment grew rapidly. By the end of the first year, dozens of pupils were attending.
The Sisters' activities expanded beyond education. Their broader contribution included nursing, health care, missionary work and the training of additional members of their religious congregation.
Over time, Victoria became the western headquarters of the Sisters of St. Ann.
Increasing enrollment eventually required a much larger institution.
Construction of the principal Academy building began in 1871, and the new school opened in 1872. The central section became an architectural landmark in its own right: it was Victoria's first four-storey masonry building.
Brother Joseph Michaud was responsible for the original design. Its classical appearance and French Canadian architectural influences visually connected the new institution on Vancouver Island with the Sisters' origins in Quebec.
The Academy continued expanding.
In 1886, architect John Teague oversaw construction of the east block. The addition greatly increased the institution's size and provided facilities including classrooms, dormitories, dining areas, parlours, a library, music conservatory, infirmary and administrative rooms.
Another major addition, the west wing, was designed by Thomas Hooper and completed in 1910. The different construction periods produced an unusual combination of Classical, Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival and Second Empire influences while maintaining a surprisingly unified appearance.
The result is a building that communicates two histories simultaneously: the development of education in British Columbia and the transmission of French Canadian religious and architectural traditions to the Pacific Coast.
One of St. Ann's Academy's most significant features is its chapel.
Its story actually predates the Academy building. The structure originated in 1858 as Victoria's first Roman Catholic cathedral. After a larger cathedral made it unnecessary in that role, the old structure was moved.
Rather than demolishing it, workers raised it onto skids, moved it to the Academy and incorporated it into the expanding complex.
The chapel contains hand-carved architectural details, historic artwork and stained or art-glass windows. A Casavant pipe organ dating from 1913 adds another important element to the interior.
This combination of an early cathedral preserved within a later educational complex contributes substantially to the Academy's architectural importance. The chapel represents an unusually tangible connection to the earliest years of organized Catholic religious life in Victoria.
It remains one of the parts of St. Ann's most frequently mentioned by visitors and has also made the Academy a distinctive venue for weddings and other ceremonies.
St. Ann's Academy eventually developed a reputation extending far beyond Victoria.
The school offered instruction to young women at a time when educational opportunities for girls were considerably more limited than they are today. Students came from outside Victoria, and the Academy developed particularly strong programs in areas including music and art.
High school classes were introduced in the 1890s, along with practical and professional education intended to prepare graduates for employment.
One historical account describes the school's examinations as public occasions attended not merely by parents but also by local dignitaries and members of the surrounding community. The Academy's educational accomplishments consequently became part of Victoria's civic life rather than remaining entirely behind convent walls.
The Sisters also established other schools and hospitals throughout the Pacific Northwest, making St. Ann's part of a much larger network of education, health care and social service.
The Academy's influence continued for more than a century.
St. Ann's Academy graduated its final class in 1973.
Declining enrollment, rising operating expenses and changing educational circumstances made continued operation impractical. The provincial government subsequently acquired the property.
What followed was not an immediate transformation into the carefully restored heritage site visitors know today.
Parts of the grounds became parking areas. Gardens deteriorated. The building was used for offices and meeting rooms, while other portions remained underused. During the 1980s and early 1990s, disuse, vandalism and water infiltration caused increasing concern.
Eventually, a basic choice emerged: demolish the aging complex or undertake a major restoration.
Restoration won.
In 1993, the provincial government announced a redevelopment project valued at approximately $16.7 million. Paul Merrick Architects was selected for the ambitious undertaking.
The project involved not simply repairing an old building but deciding how a nineteenth-century educational and religious institution could be adapted for modern use while preserving historically important interiors, architecture and landscapes.
The restoration itself received recognition. Merrick Architecture records a 1997 IC&I Building Award for Commercial Office from the Victoria Real Estate Board's Industrial, Commercial & Investment Division for the St. Ann's Academy project.
The restoration also stimulated the organization that would eventually operate FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com.
During the redevelopment period, former students and other supporters became increasingly interested in ensuring that the Academy's history and traditions would remain visible.
A group of alumnae met in 1996 to discuss a reunion. Additional meetings and presentations followed. What began as alumni interest developed into a broader heritage initiative.
By February 1997, approximately 50 people were participating in membership enrollment, and membership eventually exceeded 300.
These supporters became known simply as the "Friends."
The Society worked with the Provincial Capital Commission and those responsible for the Academy site. Members contributed memories and stories, participated in activities surrounding the restoration and assisted with the official reopening ceremonies in July 1997.
The Society's first Annual General Meeting was held in September 1998, and it subsequently obtained registered charitable status.
Its mission extended beyond preserving memories of an old school. The Society sought to honor and promote the historical, spiritual, social and cultural legacy associated with the Academy and the Sisters of St. Ann while helping make the historic property a continuing community resource.
The historical website reflected that broad mission.
Rather than functioning simply as a tourism page, FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com combined institutional history, architecture, membership information, volunteer opportunities and programming.
Its content introduced visitors to the origins of the Sisters of St. Ann, the development of their Victoria school and the architectural evolution of the Academy. Other material explained the formation of the Society itself.
Membership was another important component. The Society encouraged people with an interest in the site—not merely former students—to become Friends. Historical membership categories included student, sustaining, sponsoring and advertising memberships.
Members could receive the Society's newsletter, "Sequoia," while higher membership levels provided additional recognition or promotional opportunities.
The site also promoted volunteer participation. Opportunities included serving as a docent, helping with weddings and special events, conducting research, participating in school programs and assisting with collections management.
In this respect, the website was not simply informational. It was a recruitment and community-building tool.
The Society's activities demonstrate how FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com fit into a larger heritage strategy.
Preserving a historic building requires more than maintaining brick, timber and plaster. It also requires preserving the stories explaining why the building matters.
The Friends helped connect former students, historians, volunteers, educators and visitors with those stories.
Education became a particularly visible component. In 2007, the British Columbia government awarded the Society $5,000 through BC150 community funding for a bilingual teachers' resource incorporating lesson plans and historical information about St. Ann's Academy.
That project illustrates an important transition in the Academy's identity. A building originally devoted to formal schooling was being repurposed as a place where the wider public could learn about British Columbia history.
The site's Interpretive Centre served a similar purpose, while outdoor interpretive material allowed people exploring the grounds to learn about significant features even when other portions of the building were unavailable.
One of the most substantial programs preserved on FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com is the inaugural Women and Leadership Conference held October 13–15, 2016.
Its full title, "Women and Leadership: Radical Conversations on Gender Justice, Art and Reconciliation," reveals how far the Society's activities could extend beyond conventional heritage preservation.
The conference used both St. Ann's Academy and the nearby Royal BC Museum. Rather than concentrating exclusively on the Sisters' nineteenth-century history, organizers connected the site's heritage of women's education and service with contemporary questions involving leadership, feminism, Indigenous perspectives, politics, art, activism, gender equality and reconciliation.
Panels included academics, politicians, artists, activists and Indigenous leaders.
Among the participants were historian Merna Forster; artist and University of Victoria professor Sandra Meigs; poet and broadcaster Janet Rogers; environmentalist Vicky Husband; former Hupacasath First Nation chief Judith Sayers; former Member of Parliament Jean Crowder; and politician Carole James.
One evening panel, "Warrior Women," was chaired by Elizabeth May.
The workshops were unusually varied. Participants could explore feminist poetic forms, create activist art, work with puppetry and theatre, participate in historical tours, discuss museum representation or investigate women's presence in public history.
A "Feminist Museum Hack," for example, invited participants to examine museum interpretation and consider how displays might change if history were presented more fully from women's perspectives.
Another workshop explored gender equality through participatory activities, while an activist-art workshop used stencilling as a means of examining social issues.
The conference therefore linked the Academy's historical identity with contemporary civic discussion. That connection is arguably one of the most interesting aspects of the Friends' work: heritage was presented not as something frozen in the nineteenth century but as a starting point for discussing the present.
The Academy's central location makes this approach particularly effective.
At 835 Humboldt Street, the property sits only about three blocks from Victoria's Inner Harbour. The Royal BC Museum and Parliament Buildings are nearby, while Beacon Hill Park lies immediately to the south. Emily Carr House is also within easy walking distance.
Historically, visitors could explore the chapel, Interpretive Centre and selected interior spaces while the extensive grounds provided a public green space in their own right.
Features identified around the Academy property have included the Academy Green, arboretum, orchard, former cemetery, Novitiate Garden, courtyard, Humboldt gates and other landscaped areas.
This combination makes St. Ann's unusual among urban heritage attractions. Visitors do not necessarily have to treat it as a conventional museum experience. Some discover the grounds while walking between better-known Victoria attractions, while others come specifically for architecture, history, weddings, events or quiet outdoor space.
Visitor Reviews and Popularity
St. Ann's Academy does not attract visitors on the scale of the Royal BC Museum or the Parliament Buildings, but its comparatively understated profile appears to be part of its appeal.
Tripadvisor lists St. Ann's Academy National Historic Site with a rating of approximately 4.1 out of 5 based on 48 reviews and places it among Victoria's recognized visitor attractions.
Reviewers repeatedly describe it as a "hidden gem." Comments emphasize the tranquility of the grounds, the beauty of the chapel, the historic atmosphere and the surprising amount of green space available so close to downtown.
Some visitors report discovering the Academy almost accidentally while walking between Beacon Hill Park, the Inner Harbour and other downtown destinations.
Its appeal as a wedding location remains evident as well. Couples and wedding participants have praised the chapel, gardens and photographic possibilities. Practical observations sometimes include limited ventilation or heat inside the historic chapel during warm weather and parking considerations—reminders that this is an authentic nineteenth-century structure rather than a purpose-built modern event facility.
Awards and Historic Recognition
St. Ann's importance is supported by several different forms of recognition.
Its designation as a National Historic Site in 1989 formally acknowledges its national importance as an educational institution in Western Canada.
Provincial historic designation followed in 1998.
The restoration project also earned the 1997 IC&I Building Award associated with the Victoria Real Estate Board.
Historical accounts additionally record that Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria and wife of Governor General the Marquess of Lorne, visited the Academy in the nineteenth century and praised the Sisters' educational and humanitarian work. One account associates the visit with recognition for educational excellence.
These distinctions reflect different dimensions of the Academy's importance: architecture, education, religious history, women's history, community service and heritage conservation.
St. Ann's Academy occupies a complicated but important place in British Columbia history.
Its architecture represents the transfer of French Canadian religious and cultural traditions across a continent. Its educational history demonstrates the major role women religious played in building schools and social institutions in Western Canada. Its classrooms educated generations of girls and young women, while the Sisters' wider work extended into nursing, hospitals and community service.
The property is also part of the history of colonial Victoria and therefore exists within a broader history involving Indigenous peoples, settlement, religion and changing interpretations of the past.
Modern programs associated with the Academy increasingly reflected these wider perspectives. The Women and Leadership Conference's emphasis on Indigenous voices, reconciliation, gender justice and representation illustrates an effort to place historical preservation in conversation with contemporary social questions.
That evolution helps explain why the Society's mission was broader than nostalgia.
The Friends were preserving an institution, but they were also asking how its legacy could remain relevant.
FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com as a Historical Web Resource
Today, FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com has another kind of significance: it preserves part of the Internet history of a local heritage organization.
Nonprofit websites frequently disappear when organizations redesign their sites, change domains or adopt new content-management systems. Years of event announcements, membership information, organizational history and educational material can vanish with them.
FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com provides an unusual example in which substantial historical content has been retained after the organization moved elsewhere online.
Visitors can therefore see not only information about St. Ann's Academy but also how the Society of Friends presented itself during an earlier period.
The historical site's menu and content effectively document several priorities: explaining the Academy's origins, introducing its founders, describing the building, recruiting members, encouraging volunteering and publicizing events.
The extensive surviving material about the 2016 Women and Leadership Conference is especially valuable because it records individual sessions, speakers and workshops that might otherwise be difficult to reconstruct years later.
Ownership and the Website Today
It is important to distinguish three different entities: St. Ann's Academy itself, the Society of Friends of St. Ann's Academy and FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com.
The Academy is the historic physical site.
The Society is the community organization that developed around preservation, interpretation and support of that site.
FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com was formerly the Society's website but is no longer its official online home.
The historical domain states that it now has a different owner and that its preserved material is maintained for historical interest. The Society's current web presence is at SFSAA.org.
Consequently, contemporary information about Society officers, programs, memberships, events or policies should be verified through the current organization rather than assumed from archived FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com pages.
The Lasting Importance of FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com
FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com ultimately tells several interconnected stories.
It tells the story of four Sisters who travelled from Quebec to Vancouver Island in 1858 and began teaching almost immediately under primitive conditions.
It tells the story of a school that expanded into one of Victoria's most imposing educational institutions and remained active for more than a century.
It documents an extraordinary building incorporating Victoria's former Catholic cathedral, French Canadian architectural traditions and additions by prominent architects.
It also tells the story of what happened after the school closed: deterioration, the possibility of demolition, a multimillion-dollar restoration and the mobilization of former students and supporters determined to keep the Academy's history alive.
Finally, it records how that preservation movement evolved. The Society of Friends did more than celebrate former students. It recruited volunteers, supported interpretation and education, encouraged public use of the property and eventually hosted programs connecting the Academy's history with subjects such as women's leadership, feminism, art, Indigenous perspectives, gender justice and reconciliation.
For that reason, FriendsOfStAnnsAcademy.com remains useful even though it is no longer the Society's official website. It captures a particular period in the continuing life of St. Ann's Academy—after the classrooms had closed but while a new community was discovering how an old school could become a heritage site, educational resource, gathering place and living connection between Victoria's past and present.