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The Brethren Known as Hutterians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

A. M. Willms
A. M. Willms*
Affiliation:
Ottawa
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Extract

In his work on group settlement in western Canada Professor C. A. Dawson has described five major ethnic-religious groups but he has not treated one very distinctive Canadian people, the Hutterites, who prefer to be known as the Hutterian Brethren. There is a sociological study of this group by the Canadian Mental Health Association and several monographs on various aspects of Hutterite life have been published in the United States, but on their settlement in western Canada there is only an unpublished M.A. thesis. My purpose here is to outline briefly the coming of the Hutterites to Canada, their economic and social habits, and the problems they present to western Canada.

The first Hutterites came to Canada in a delegation of three which arrived in Winnipeg in May, 1898, to explore the possibilities of moving the seven existing colonies from South Dakota to western Canada. The delegation was welcomed by the Commissioner of Immigration in Winnipeg and was supplied with free transportation to see southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. On their return to South Dakota members of the delegation reported that though they had some doubts about the weather and the land they were “resolved to make a trial” at settling in Canada, if their requirements concerning schooling, military service, and freedom of religion were met by the federal government. Meanwhile a government agent was sent to the Hutterite colonies by the Department of the Interior to encourage the proposed move and to make a report on the Hutterities.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , August 1958 , pp. 391 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1958

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References

1 Group Settlement: Ethnic Communities in Western Canada (Toronto, 1936).Google Scholar

2 The Hutterites and Saskatchewan: A Study of Inter-Group Relations (Regina, 1953).Google Scholar

3 Pitt, E. L., “The Hutterian Brethren in Alberta,” M.A. thesis, University of Alberta, 1949.Google Scholar

4 Dept. of Citizenship and Immigration, correspondence file (hereafter cited as C & I 58764), W. H. Rogers to Secretary, Dept. of Interior, July 6, 1898.

5 Order in Council 1676, Aug. 12, 1899.

6 C & I 58764, Deputy Minister of the Interior to Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg, Oct. 27, 1899.

7 C & I 58764.

8 Ibid., Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg, to Superintendent of Immigration, Ottawa, May 15, 1905.

9 Ibid., Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg, to Secretary of Immigration, Ottawa, Jan. 30, 1918.

10 Ibid., Deputy Minister of the Interior to Michael Scott, Feb. 7, 1918.

11 Ibid., vol. 2, especially Michael Scott to Deputy Minister, Oct. 2, 1918. Also memo by Secretary of Immigration, Oct. 10, 1918; and House of Commons Debates, 1919, p. 1260.Google Scholar

12 C & I 58764, Michael Scott to Hon. J. A. Calder, Oct. 19, 1918.

13 Orders in Council 768, April 8, 1919, and 923, May 1, 1919.

14 C & I 58764, undated memo, Hon. J. A. Calder to W. W. Cory.

15 Ibid., P. J. Entz to Superintendent of Immigration, Ottawa, June 16, 1919.

16 Ibid., vol. 13.

17 Mennonite Quarterly Review, 06, 1951, 60–2.Google Scholar

18 The material in this section comes partly from first-hand experience in the colonies and partly from Pitt, “Hutterian Brethren in Alberta.” See also Clark, Bertha W., “The Hutterian Communities,” Journal of Political Economy, 06-Aug., 1924.Google Scholar

19 Eaton, Joseph W. and Weil, Robert J., Culture and Mental Disorders (Glencoe, Ill., 1955).Google Scholar

20 This belief is expressed in such places as: Inspector of Schools, Alberta, to Premier of Alberta, Jan. 12, 1934, as quoted in Pitt, , “Hutterian Brethren in Alberta,” 75 Google Scholar; Bulletin of the Manitoba Civil Liberties Association (Winnipeg), I, no. 2, 1947–1948, 3 Google Scholar; Clark, , “Hutterian Communities,” 374 Google Scholar; Deets, Lee Emerson, The Hutterites: A Study of Social Cohesion (Gettysburg, 1939), 2.Google Scholar

21 Acts 4: 35, 32.

22 Luke 7: 27-8, and Matt. 6: 39.

23 Clark, , “Hutterian Communities,” 483.Google Scholar

24 Matt. 6: 37.

25 Inquiry from the R.C.M.P. about one colony that had been denounced by its neighbours brought the reply that “… the members of the–––colony are above average, law abiding citizens. …”

26 Eaton, and Weil, , Culture and Mental Disorders, 41.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., 41-2; also Mennonite Quarterly Review, Jan., 1951.

28 Eaton, and Weil, , Culture and Mental Disorders, 60–2.Google Scholar

29 Ibid., 33.

30 Calgary, Herald, 07 2, 1942.Google Scholar

31 C & I 58764, vol. 5.

32 Canadian Mental Health Association, Hutterites and Saskatchewan.

33 Calgary, Herald, 06 29, 1942.Google Scholar

34 C & I 58764, Director of Immigration to J. H. Blackmore, M.P., June 11, 1940.

35 Ibid., Assistant Secretary to Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg, Aug. 18, 1899.

36 Canadian Mental Health Association, Hutterites and Saskatchewan, 21.Google Scholar

37 C & I 58764, Michael Scott to Deputy Minister, Oct. 2, 1918.

38 Ibid., R. Fletcher, Deputy Minister of Education, Manitoba, to Secretary, Dept. of Immigration, Ottawa, July 29, 1920.

39 Pitt, , “Hutterian Brethren in Alberta,” 75.Google Scholar

40 Ibid., 119.

41 Ibid., 123.

42 Canadian Mental Health Association, Hutterites and Saskatchewan, 27.Google Scholar

43 Lethbridge, Herald, 03 1, 1948.Google Scholar

44 Winnipeg Free Press, April 30, 1957.

45 Regina, Leader Post, 04 29, 1957.Google Scholar

46 C & I 58764, voi. 16, memo dated Jan. 25, 1949.

47 Pitt, , “Hutterian Brethren in Alberta,” 18.Google Scholar Also Bender, Harold S., “Mennonite Intergroup Relations,” Mennonite Quarterly Review, 01, 1958, 49.Google Scholar

48 Pitt, , “Hutterian Brethren in Alberta,” 19.Google Scholar

49 The 1951 census set the total at 78,234.

50 Canadian Mental Health Association, Hutterites and Saskatchewan, 113.Google Scholar

51 Ibid., 115.