Providence Farm

Six o'clock this morning I biked to Providence Farm and Saint Ann church. The sun shone on the red roof of the former St. Ann school.

When the Europeans arrived in the Cowichan Valley so did the Roman Catholic Church, which had a mission to the aboriginal peoples of the valley.

a short history of the Sisters of Saint Ann taken from their website

In 1843, Sir James Douglas, chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company in the Pacific Northwest, established Fort Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

The first Catholic Bishop, Modeste Demers, arrived in the 1850's to take over his newly established See which stretched from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Arctic. Having neither priests nor other missionaries for the apostolic work he envisioned, he left for Montreal to seek help.

As a result, four Sisters of Saint Ann joined with the Bishop and his other recruits for the Pacific Coast. They arrived in Victoria harbour on Saturday, June 5, 1858.

In 1859, and again in 1863, more Sisters arrived from Quebec. In 1871, a new brick structure was erected on Humboldt Street. Passing years saw additions to what became Saint Ann's Academy.

In 1864, the Sisters went to Duncan (Cowichan), where many First Nations people lived. Here the Sisters opened a school especially for the Aboriginal girls of the Cowichan area. After 1904, it became a boys' boarding school.

Summary
The pioneering Sisters of St. Ann purchased the 400-acre farm, now known as Providence Farm, in 1864. The farm was first a boarding school for young Native girls (1864-1876) and then enlarged to make room for orphaned girls from the St. Ann Academy in Victoria.

It next became a boarding school for boys in 1904. In 1921 a larger school was built, now known as Providence House. In 1950, girls were enrolled as externs and in 1956 Providence House become a day school for girls and boys. On June 22, 1964, the school bell rang for the last time.