Q71: Lost Doukhobor Land?

Question 71: What happened to the land lost by the Doukhobors in Saskatchewan in 1907?

by Corinne Postnikoff, Castlegar, British Columbia, June 11, 2014:

My youngest daughter, Christina, is in her second summer of working at the Doukhobor Discovery Center in Castlegar. Several times guests asked her

• What became of the Doukhobor lands?
• Were villages destroyed?
• Was the land used by other immigrants?

Doukhobor lands in Canada, 1899-1939, a composite of 4 maps
from Doukhobor Google Maps, by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff.

Short Answers

• What became of the Doukhobor lands?
          Most was taken by government and sold.
• Were villages destroyed?
          Yes.
• Was the land used by other immigrants?
          Yes, and Canadians.

There were two huge losses of Doukhobor land and/or businesses (jam factories, sawmills, orchards, brick factories)

Time, Province	1907 Saskatchewan	1939 British Columbia
Owners	All Doukhobors	CCUB Ltd.
Land Total	773,400 acres (1209 sq.mi.)	19,027 acres (30 sq.mi.)
Land Kept Total	160,640 acres (251 sq.mi.)*	All. Rented up to 1961
Land Lost %	79%	0%. Rented, then  purchases began in 1961
Loss Estimate $	$11.4 million	$6 million
Reason	Forced-assimilation	Loan foreclosure

* Community Doukhobors kept 122,560 acres (192 sq.mi.); and
Independent Doukhobors purchased 38,080 acres (59.5 sq.mi.) by 1907.

1907 Comparisons	Population	Land Kept
Community Doukhobors	~90%	76%
Independent Doukhobors	~10%	24%

Though Independent Doukhobors acquired on the average more than twice as much land per person as Community Doukhobors, all Doukhobors were cheated by government and discriminated by society, similar to Aboriginal Canadians. 79% of the original Doukhobor lands in Saskatchewan were seized by the government and sold.

Long Answers

Each land loss requires more study to fully understand a series of many related events in the Canadian economy, society and government; and in the Doukhobor communities. Much is online.

• '"Breach of Faith'" Land Loss in Saskatchewan in 1907', August 7, 2012. — See References.
• The Decline of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood Ltd. in 1938, Sheaf, June 1998.
• The Land Loss Story in Saskatchewan, Doukhobor-Homepage, March 17, 1998 (Retrieved from Archive.org)  — Error: 'oath of allegiance to the Crown' was not required. An 'affirmation' is acceptable.
• Aldeman, Jeremy. 'Early Doukhobor Experience on the Canadian Prairies', Journal of Canadian Studies, v.25, n.4, Winter 1990-1991, pages 111-128 — Doukhobor Genealogy Website.   
• Ewashen, Larry. Doukhobor Land Seizure : Canada at Last!, 2018.
• Hawthorn, Harry B. (editor). The Doukhobors of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: The University of British Columbia and J.M. Dent & Sons (Canada) Limited, 1955.
• McLaren, John. “`Not to be Bought, Sold or Bartered With:’ Religious Communalists in a Fee Simple World – The Canadian Doukhobors and the Land Question, 1899-1999” presentation to the “Land and Freedom” Conference of  the Australian and New Zealand Legal History Society, Friday, July 9th, 1999, University of Newcastle, New South Wales.
• Mealing, F. M.  Afterword,  Our people's way : a study in Doukhobor hymnody and folklife. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1972, pages 704-708.
• Szalasznyj, Kathy R.M. The Doukhobor Homestead Crisis 1898-1907. MA thesis, Dept. of History, University of Saskatchewan, 1977, 271 pages. — Most extensive history.

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