Order of nuns helped shape lives of young students in Saskatoon

Its latest incarnation is an apartment building, but the imposing brick building in Saskatoon began as a school built by an order of Roman Catholic nuns, the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion.

On the weekend, more than 300 former students and teachers from the Academy of Our Lady of Sion gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the sisters’ arrival in Saskatoon. The event also marks 50 years since the school closed.

It was held at one of the city’s newest Roman Catholic landmarks, Holy Family Cathedral.

“There was such an amazing collection of very strong women attending that school. And so many of them are still out there today … moving and shaking the world,” said Eleanor Kennedy, who graduated from the academy in 1964. She added “the nuns really made us learn to think.”

Kennedy assembled an 80foot wall detailing the academy’s history, including numerous biographies. Among the notable graduates was the late Judge Marian Wedge, daughter of former Supreme Court of Canada justice Emmett Hall. Another is the daughter of acclaimed Saskatchewan poet Anne Szumigalski, Elizabeth Carriere, governor of Montserrat.

“The sisters looked at us not as people who would only be mothers and wives but that we could do whatever we wanted,” said Elaine Zakreski (Class of 1960). “We were told time and time again we were the privileged ones, that we should make a difference in the world, that we should use all of our gifts and our talents.”

In 1919, the sisters opened a convent school for girls at another property. However, the original enrolment of 30 students quickly grew. So in 1926, the sisters erected the brick building to house the academy, originally a K-12 school.

Three decades later, grades 1 to 8 were discontinued due to decreasing enrolment.

In 1967, the Catholic School Board bought the building, turning it into a junior high school and alternative high school. It later became a student residence for the Kelsey campus of SIAST (now Saskatchewan Polytechnic). The sisters also taught catechism to young Catholics in the city, and taught in various other Saskatoon schools.