The first four Sisters of St Ann arrived from Quebec on June 5, 1858. Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, Sister Mary Lumena, Sister Mary Conception, and Sister Mary Angèle were accompanied on their journey by their lay assistant Marie Mainville. On their arrival, they did not find the Victoria they had been expecting. The small First Nations and fur trading community Bishop Modeste Demers had described no longer existed; in its place was a burgeoning – mostly English-speaking – gold rush town. 

Only Sister Mary Conception spoke English well enough to teach entirely in that language, and a call was sent back to the motherhouse in St. Jacques – de – l’Achigan for English-speaking teachers. In 1859, Sister Mary Providence and Sister Mary Bonsecours joined their Sisters on Vancouver Island. 

St Ann’s Academy Victoria, before 1910

Entrance gate to St Ann’s Academy Victoria, after 1886

The kindergarten and primary school Victoria, ca 1900

A new school for St Ann’s Victoria, the Pioneer Convent is in the right, 1871

St Ann’s Academy Victoria, ca 1900

St Ann’s Academy Victoria by Margaret Elizabeth Kitto, ca 1914