Review of News Article about New Denver Residential School Apology

Updated for clarity on 26 July 2023, and 7 September, 2024.

New Denver Survivors Collective Complaint to BC Ombudsman

Forcibly taking children from parents is a traumatizing experience whether this be for Indigenous children or that of the Sons of Freedom in the 1950s in the Kootenays of British Columbia. I fully sympathize for the fate of all these children.

An article we corrected: 'New Denver Survivors Doukhobors want apology from B.C. government,' by Kalyeena Makortoff, was published this week [May 21, 2012] in newspapers across Canada, and deserves comment and discussion. 

First, the title is misleading. The article is about children of the Sons of Freedom who organized as the New Denver Survivors Collective, not about 'Doukhobors' as shown in the first word. See all corrections.

Second, the Globe and Mail shows a photo of John J. Verigin Sr. as if he was leader of the Sons of Freedom. He was not. Compare to the photo below from the Toronto Star which really tells a story in one image.

Click for large image.

The image (above) shows a Sons of Freedom prayer meeting. The parents needed special passes to visit, limited to two Sundays per month, one hour each visit. The incarcerated kids are standing behind the fence in their New Denver rehabilitation facility, and their parents are outside the fence, in the foreground. In the center, a traditional small table is seen inside the fence, with a white table cloth on which are bread, salt and water. By ritual the men and women are standing separated, facing each other. 

Third, the story dealt with the 170 survivors of the New Denver School and Dormitory for zealot children, British Columbia, who went through various forms of trauma from 1953 to 1959. In early February of this year, a group calling itself the New Denver Survivors Collective argued before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal that the government has unjustly refused to apologize to the zealot parents. They also pointed out to the hefty compensation packages doled out to other groups who faced abuse at BC-run residential schools as unfair.

Ultimately, the Collective wants the government to carry out recommendations put forward by a 1999 B.C. Ombudsman report, which called for an unconditional, clear and public apology. The human-rights-tribunal ruling is expected late this summer.

The Nelson Daily News reported (Sep. 16, 1954, p.2) that after years of not enforcing the School Act, the zealot parents were given choices:

1. Set up their own schools to teach religion, and subjects that did not conflict with their beliefs. Previously I said 'home schools'.
2. Government provided schools, parents can choose teachers who could be pacifists (Doukhobor, Mennonite, Quaker, ...) 
3. Send children to regular school but excused from objectionable subjects/ classes (military, history, )

The 1952 'Hawthorn report' (pp. 118-120) suggested not using the word 'school' and offering vocational training. No matter what was suggested, the parents rejected all proposals, not because they were against literacy and learning, but many feared retribution from the most zealous who did not trust government.

In reaction, the BC Government, headed by Premier W.A.C. Bennett, took 'a get-tough' policy of forcibly teaching the children at a special location in New Denver, BC at the site where Japanese Canadians were earlier interned during World War II. Periodic raids by RCMP on truant children of the Sons of Freedom became a routine occurrence as their parents feared that the kids were being abused physically and mentally. The experiment in re-charting children (which went against the recommendations of the Hawthorn Committee) was termed 'a disastrous failure'.

A comment in the email section of the Globe and Mail, May 22, 2012, by 'Castle1946', states the situation correctly:

'....These were innocent children, victims of their own parents' misguided belief system. The blame, therefore, lies solely with these fanatical parents who made incredibly bad choices, and did not act in the best interests of their children. They used their children as pawns in their fanaticism and rebellion against the government. When the parents of these children and what is left of the Sons of Freedom community apologize to their own children first, and then apologize to me and others in my Doukhobor community who, as children, were traumatized by their terrorist activities, then and only then should the government proceed with apologies on its part if it deems it fitting.'

Another comment comes from Annie Barnes of Alberta, who wrote a letter to the editor of The Province (Vancouver), copied to me but not published. Annie is a former hospital equipment planner and author. Here is her letter:

Dear Editor:

The innocent children of New Denver paid the price for their Sons of Freedom parents' often misguided and misunderstood beliefs. No question, we [Doukhobors] have empathy for them. However, innocent children of Orthodox [Community Doukhobor] and Independent Doukhobor parents also paid the price for many years due to the actions and publicity about the Sons of Freedom sect [reporting that Sons of Freedom are Doukhobors].

Orthodox [Community Doukhobor] villages were set aflame while these [Community Doukhobor] children slept. Their parents were constantly vigilant, on guard, fearful their home could be next.

Independent Doukhobor children and young adults were all tainted in the media by the actions and demonstrations of the Sons of Freedom sect, often stopped and searched during roadblocks because our names ended in Off. In the fifties and sixties, even the seventies, we were sometimes denied our rightful place in society or the community or the university because of the actions and demonstrations of this sect.

Early non-Doukhobor immigrants were often denied many privileges given to others born in Canada. Should everyone ask for an apology, or should we, as pacifist Doukhobors forgive ourselves and others as we were taught to do by our forefathers?

Yours very truly,
Annie B. Barnes

In conclusion, in my opinion, all Canadian Doukhobors, not just the New Denver Survivors, deserve an apology, compensation and treatment, because:

1. All Canadian USCC Doukhobors and Independent Doukhobors were victims. They were repeatedly blamed and abused by and for the actions of the Sons of Freedom by the media, government, and academia, who all lied and widely published that all Canadian Doukhobors are bad people.
2. About 1907 the Canadian government punished all immigrating Doukhobors who did not sign an oath of allegiance or affirmation to the Crown.
3. In the 1950s, the RCMP profiled everyone with Slavic surnames in the  interior of BC, as suspect terrorists. Many USCC Doukhobors who were victims of Sons of Freedom were searched for weapons.
4. The Sons of Freedom parents, who opposed education, are responsible for their children being taken to New Denver.
5. The Sons of Freedom should apologize for their violent actions of arson and bombings which traumatized generations of USCC Doukhobors and Independent Doukhobors.

The reputation of all Doukhobors, the 'Doukhobor Movement', and Sons of Freedom and their descendants, are polluted by lies, which fooled the Canadian people and world that Doukhobors are the terrorist nudists, while a different group called 'Sons of Freedom' (Freedomites) were the actual terrorist nudists. 

The media, Canadian government, and academia, are all guilty of helping the 'Sons of Freedom' to 'hijack' the Doukhobor identity, which must be restored to correct more than a century of misinformation.