A comparison of the Mennonite and Doukhobor emigrations from Russia to Canada, 1870-1920

This thesis examines two emigrations from Russia to Canada by members of the Mennonite and Doukhobor religious sects in the late nineteenth century. The first took place between 1874 and 1880, when roughly 17,000 Mennonites left their homes in southern Ukraine to establish new settlements in the western frontiers of North America. Included in this number was a contingent of about 7,000 who formed colonies in the southern regions of Manitoba, Canada, instead of settling with the majority of their fellow emigrants in the U.S. Midwest. The Doukhobor emigration involved approximately 7,400 sectarians from Transcaucasia who migrated to the Western Canadian territories of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan in the years 1898-99.

This thesis recognizes an underlying cause for the two migrations which is rooted in the internal struggles of the two sects. During the nineteenth century rifts developed between progressive sectarians--who favoured a more open relationship with non-sectarians and worked with the Russian government to promote secular reform--and conservative members who clung to traditional ways. Most of the Mennonites and Doukhobors who emigrated from Russia in late nineteenth century (approximately one-third of the population of each sect) held conservative views. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)