HISTORY OF THE DOUKHOBOR PEOPLE

by Farley Wuth, Curator,
Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village
Copyright, Pincher Creek & District Historical Society

The Doukhobor People are Russian in ancestry. Three of the outstanding traditional characteristic beliefs of the Doukhobor Faith are pacifism, communal living and vegetarianism. Members are advocates of peace and non-violence and are opposed to being conscripted into war. This led the Doukhobors into philosophical conflict with the Imperial Russian Army which required the conscription of Russian Men for expansionist and military purposes. In the past, faith members lived communally and also practiced the consumption of non-meat products, believing that all animals are sacred and are not to be eaten.

These combined attributes meant that people of the Doukhobor Faith were persecuted by the Russian authorities in the 1800s. Many decided to flee and immigrate to the United States. Years later, still others immigrated to Canada. Some settled in Verigin, Saskatchewan, a rural area named after their Canadian leader Peter Verigin. A second group settled in the British Columbia interior, particularly around Castlegar. A third Doukhobor sect eventually settled in the Cowley and Lundbreck areas circa 1917. They purchased a large portion of the South Fork Ranch owned by Frederick W. Godsal (1853 – 1935) who was retiring to Victoria, B.C. Here they lived communally for over two decades. In the late 1930s, the land holdings were broken down into individual properties following a dispute with municipal authorities.

The Doukhobors have remained in the community, although in less numbers than when they first came. The faith populations numbered 300 people when they first arrived. The Doukhobor Prayer Hall in Lundbreck serves the community’s religious needs.