Freedomites


The zealous Freedomite movement first appeared in 1902 in Saskatchewan, Canada, and later in the Kootenay and Boundary Districts of British Columbia as Spiritual Christian zealots who separated from Doukhobors.
Freedomites began to divide from Doukhobors in 1902 in Saskatchewan, Canada, self-named as "God's people" and Svobodniki. The zealous faction, later called "Freedomites", opposed land ownership, public schools, using work animals, etc. and are mainly known for protesting nude, later for burning and bombing. By 1920 the common English term for the zealots became Sons of Freedom. Too often the zealots were mistakenly identified in the press as Doukhobors.
By 1908 Doukhobors in Canada began to divide into "Community" and "Independent" Doukhobors. The "Community" mostly followed leader Peter V. Verigin to purchased land in the Kootenay and Boundary Districts of British Columbia. "Independents" remained in Saskatchewan, registered their own land, attended public schools, and obtained citizenship. Freedomites lived near and protested against both divisions of Doukhobors, hence the identity confusion.
Of about 20,000 active Doukhobors in Canada today, ancestors of about 2,500 were Freedomites, of which very few today identify with or practice zealous protesting, and many joined the USCC Community Doukhobors.
Confusion that Freedomites were Doukhobors arose because all moved to Canada together to escape religious persecution in Russia, and seek land and freedom. A few, unsatisfied with broken promises by the Canadian government, attempted to trek back to Russia, and called followers of their break away movement Svobodniki. Journalists rushed to the story when some protested nude, but mistakenly mixed the terms Freedomites with the law abiding Doukhobors, falsely implying that different groups were one group.

Doctrine

Freedomite meetings were similar to other spiritual Christian folk-Protestants from Russia. They met in simple buildings, sat on benches, prayed in Russian, sang religious hymns and songs in Russian, and spoke about matters of religious and community interest mostly in Russian. The ideals of the Freedomites emphasized basic traditional Russian communal living and action — growing food, building homes, living a peaceful rural life, ecstatic religious doctrine when agitated for protest, and anarchic attitudes towards external regulation.

Public protest

Although Canada at first provided a more tolerant religious environment than the Russian Empire, conflict soon developed, most importantly over the schooling of children and land registration. These Svobodniki generally refused to send their children to government-run schools. The governments of Saskatchewan and later British Columbia did not heed reports by sociologists to appease the concerns of parents, and chose to legally charge many of the parents for not sending the children to school.
The Svobodniki became famous for various public protests—sometimes publicly burning their own money and possessions and parading nude in public. There was a doctrinal justification for nudity: that human skin, as God's creation, was more perfect than clothes, the imperfect work of human hands. The public nudity has generally been interpreted as a form of protest against the materialist tendencies of society.
A small minority of the Freedomites were noted for their arson campaigns, as a protest against materialistic life. They targeted belongings and other material possessions. The attacks occurred throughout the 20th century, but the periods of greatest activity were during the 1920s and 1960s. Both arson and bombing were used. The first use of explosives occurred in 1923, and two were killed by their own bombs in 1958 and 1962. Targets included their own property and unfortunate Doukhobor neighbors to further exhibit their loathing of materialism, attacks on schools to resist government pressure to school Svobodnik children, and attacks on transportation and communications. One such incident was the bombing of a railway bridge in Nelson, British Columbia in 1961. Most of these acts were committed in the nude.
Among the reactions of the British Columbia and Canadian government was taking away Freedomite children and placing them in an internment center in New Denver. Abuse of these children was later alleged, and a formal apology demanded. The BC government made an official Statement of Regret that satisfied some, but not others. The Government of Canada has not apologized for its role in the removal, saying that it is not responsible for actions taken by the government in place 50 years ago.

Operation Snatch: timeline of actions taken

Between 1953 and 1959, roughly 200 Sons of Freedom children, aged 7–15, were seized by the BC government, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the federal government in "Operation Snatch". These children were confined in New Denver, BC in a prison-like setting. The Sons of Freedom children lost their human rights throughout their imprisonment by the BC government.
The following is a timeline of the actions that were taken leading up to, during, and after the confinement of the children.
When the government made a decision to seize the Sons of Freedom children, it was in an attempt to respond to the widespread civil disorder happening in the Kootenays. The Federal Department of Justice faced two problems with the apprehension and conviction of the Sons of Freedom: where should the adult convicts be confined and what should be done with their children?
In the years leading up to the creation of the residential schools, the Sons of Freedom had become a concern for the province of British Columbia as a whole; they seemed to have a problem with any sort of government, in addition to the laws and policies that were being enforced. Public and Authorities were unhappy because the Sons of Freedom did not register their births, deaths or marriages that occurred within their communities; nor did they send their children to public schools. Public alarm was increasing, based on the fears that the unruly incidents of nude protests, burning of homes and buildings and bombings of bridges and railways, were not being attended to by the RCMP.
"It was between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. and Elsie Ericson's mother had just begun lighting the stove when four RCMP officers barged into their tiny wooden home in the village of Krestova, B.C. The child jumped out of bed and hid under it, only to be dragged out by their feet. Elsie and her brother spent the next four years in what she said felt like a jail. They were housed with nearly 200 other in a residential school in New Denver, B.C."