2024
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 16
Prompt – School
My father, Jake Peters was born in 1917
in Hague, Saskatchewan; presumably on a Mennonite Colony. My father
was essentially illiterate and according to his WWII papers achieved
only a public school grade 4 level by the age of 16 or in another
part of these attestation papers it said he had passed Grade 2 public
school by 1932. He was taken out of school to help out on the farm
because his father had hurt his back. School was no longer a choice
for him.
Was the colony the reason for the lack
of his education? Mennonites taught their own children in their
language in their schools with their teachers who were not educated
beyond what they learned in their Mennonite School. The government
did everything to break the Mennonite private schools. In fact this
was the reason that there was a migration by the “old colony”
Mennonites to Mexico. My great-grandfather, his wife and his
children including my father were not one of the ones who immigrated
to Mexico with the rest of Old Colony.
THE PROMISE
In 2015, a letter was discovered in the
basement of a Steinbach, Manitoba Mennonite office. It was a letter
dated July 24, 1873. It was the original letter from Canada to the
Mennonites in Russia listing their exemptions and privileges they could have in Canada.
“A close look at the brittle pages
reveals something else. Three of the 15 numbered provisions have been
marked with small X’s, as though someone chose to single them out
for special attention. Highlighted are exemptions from military
service and the swearing of legal oaths. But perhaps the most
significant article singled out is the one offering Mennonites “the
fullest privilege of exercising their religious principles . . .
without any kind of molestation or restriction whatever,” along
with the freedom to educate their children in their own schools.”
-From Canadian Mennonite Magazine.
Volume 19, Issue 23.
THE IMMIGRATION
The Mennonites were convinced that
Canada had promised all those things that they held important for the
sustainable Mennonite Colony. The first wave of Mennonites
immigrated to Manitoba from Russia between 1874 and 1876. On July 18,
1875 my great-grandfather, David Peters, his wife and children
arrived in Manitoba. My grandfather, Franz Peters was born July 29,
1876 in Plum Coulee, Manitoba.
MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN SETTLEMENT
The praises of the Mennonites were
noted. They acclimatized to the treeless Manitoba prairie finding it
similar to the Russian Steppes they just left. The population
increased rapidly and by the early 1890's they were setting up new
colonies in Saskatchewan in the Hague – Osler area. They settled
quickly developing villages, homes, churches and schools within the
first few years of arrival.
THE PROBLEM WITH SCHOOLS
The school teachers in their new
colonies of Manitoba and Saskatchewan were chosen by the colony
leaders and of course the teachers were Mennonites who rarely had any
greater education than they were taught. The teachers were under a
one year contract. School year started after spring seeding and
lasted about a month and because the summer and fall were busy times
on the farms the school was on hold until about mid October after
harvest.The teachers perks were a free dwelling for them and their
family with free fuel for heating, free pastures for his cows, 100
bushels of wheat and barley and free schooling for his children. They
also had a small salary that was assessed and collected by the
parents of the school attendees.
“In their opinion, the children
learned most of what they needed to know for the chosen way of life from their mothers and fathers,
in the kitchen, in the garden,in the barn, and in the fields. And
that part of the education was thorough and effective. The schools
were there to provide only what was needed in addition, namely an
essential amount of reading, writing, arithmetic, Bible stories, and
language. Physical education and other extras of the public school
were not only unnecessary but harmful, in as much as school marches
were akin to the military drill and school sports programs drew the
children away from their homes and communities. And whatever
professional qualifications the teachers lacked were made up for by the
qualities of character and the genuine love for children so
characteristic of their communities.”
- Found in Mennonites of Canada 1920 –
1940 by Frank H. Epp.
In the beginning in the 1870's Manitoba
( and Saskatchewan) had two different school designations; a
Catholic School System and Protestant School Systems. The protestant
was pretty much every other denomination together. Thus Mennonites
were considered Protestant and received government funds for their
schools.
In 1890, the Manitoba government passed
“Manitoba Schools Act”. Essentially it created a single,
non-denominational school system and to be taught in English. It was
called a public school and all education moneys was from then on,
only forwarded to these public schools and cut off the “private
schools” such as Mennonite schools.
Initially after the passing of The
Manitoba Act, the Mennonite Colonies were visited by government
officials to report back how these “peculiar peoples” live.
In the Winnipeg Free Press dated
September 19, 1895 one such government official reported his
findings.
I believe Frank H. Epp said it best in his book,
Mennonites of Canada 1920 -1940. A Struggle For Survival “Mennonites objecting to the public
school did so for similar reasons. Sacred to them were such things as
their religion and culture in general, the agricultural way of life,
the German language, and pacifism in particular. As they saw it, the
public school pointed to Anglo-Canadianism rather than German-
Mennonitism, to urbanization rather than the rural life, to militarism
rather than pacifism, to ostentation rather than the simple
lifestyle they and their ancestors in the faith had always advocated.
The public school also pointed in the direction of other unwanted
"worldly" influences and, what was worst of all, social integration and
ultimate assimilation. From that perspective they had no choice but
to resist the public school.”
BETRAYAL AND PASSIVE RESISTANCE
The Mennonites were shocked because
they had been given a promise in 1873 and that now is being eroded by
governments. The push by government to assimilate them was met with a
Mennonite passive resistance. The Mennonites soon found out that educational
jurisdiction was switched to the provincial government and not the
dominion by order-in-council under the BNA. Thus their promise of
teaching their children in their language in their schools and their
curriculum was now invalid.
Over the next couple of decades the
Mennonites showed resistance to the public schools cropping up in and around
their colonies. The province continued to push and coerce the
Mennonites to come around to public schools. The colony began to
break down. The old colony Mennonites were immovable on English
taught public schools for their children. The fringes of this colony
was worn down after several years. They were called “Progressive
Mennonites”. In so doing these colonist were excommunicated from
the “Old Colony” church and essentially cut off from all help
financially and otherwise by his colony.
SCHOOL ATTNENDANCE ACT
In 1916 in Manitoba and 1917 in
Saskatchewan, the School Attendance Act was passed. Attending school
was mandatory for girls from the ages of 7 to 12 and boys 7 to 14.
Passive resistance continued but the government pushed back even
harder. Fines were being levied against the Mennonite parents who
didn't send their children to the public schools. The Mennonites
chose not to pay the fines.
In the Saskatoon Daily Star Newspaper
dated 4 Sep 1918. it states that the department of education found
the solution by building the new schools in their colonies.
In the fall of 1918 the government had
enough with the Mennonites and their blatant refusal to send their
children to Public Schools.and wrote this in the Leader-Post.
Over the next few years, passive
resistance turned into civil disobedience which were met by fines by
the truancy officers. The fines were levied and they refused to pay
them. They were prosecuted and the Mennonites became Martyrs. Between
1920 and 1925 there was over 4000 prosecutions brought forward to the
courts. In 1921 over 1800 prosecutions were handed down to the
Mennonites forcing them to pay $13,150.
At the same time many Mennonites had
put forward many appeals to all levels of Canada Courts. The lawyers
for the Mennonites was not successful and all appeals fell in favour
of the government.
This left the "Old Colony" Mennonites with no choice but to immigrate yet again. In the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix dated January 15, 1921, the headline was.
My father's family chose not to immigrate to Mexico despite many from their colony immigrating yet again. Dad would have taken school in Saskatchewan Public School in English even though he only knew German. The Old Colony values would have stayed with the family. Helping on the farm was way more important than school.
Wendy
