Interesting past evolves around the Slocan Valley, and one of the key parts that make Castlegar the way it is today relies on the immigration of the Russian Doukhobors at the end of the 19th century.
The Doukhobor were one the sects considered to be part of Spiritual Christianity. They replaced the Bible, preferring orally transmitted psalms and hymns, which they called the Living Book. They rejected the church, believing god lives in human beings and not a church. Because of their pacifistic beliefs they resisted the oppression of the Russian government, as well as the Russian priests, and all church rituals. The resistance of the Doubokhors gained international attention. In 1897 the Russian government agreed to let the Doukhobors leave the country, subject to a number of conditions: the emigrants should never return they had to emigrate at their own expense community leaders currently in prison or in exile in Siberia would have to serve the balance of their sentences before they could leave …show more content…
Around 6,000 people emigrated there, settling on land given to them by the government in what is now Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The leader of the Doukhobors, Peter V. Verigin, was able to have the land registered in the name community. By 1906 the government started requiring land being registered in the name of individual owners, which most of the Doukhobors refused to do. When the community refusal ended with more than a third of their lands going back to the crown. This, and a requirement that the Doukhobors would have to swear an Oath Of Allegiance to the Crown, resulted in a three-way split of the
The Doukhobor were one the sects considered to be part of Spiritual Christianity. They replaced the Bible, preferring orally transmitted psalms and hymns, which they called the Living Book. They rejected the church, believing god lives in human beings and not a church. Because of their pacifistic beliefs they resisted the oppression of the Russian government, as well as the Russian priests, and all church rituals. The resistance of the Doubokhors gained international attention. In 1897 the Russian government agreed to let the Doukhobors leave the country, subject to a number of conditions: the emigrants should never return they had to emigrate at their own expense community leaders currently in prison or in exile in Siberia would have to serve the balance of their sentences before they could leave …show more content…
Around 6,000 people emigrated there, settling on land given to them by the government in what is now Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The leader of the Doukhobors, Peter V. Verigin, was able to have the land registered in the name community. By 1906 the government started requiring land being registered in the name of individual owners, which most of the Doukhobors refused to do. When the community refusal ended with more than a third of their lands going back to the crown. This, and a requirement that the Doukhobors would have to swear an Oath Of Allegiance to the Crown, resulted in a three-way split of the