Homes for Hutterites

The prairies of Alberta have plenty of room, but not for Hutterites.

The Hutterites are a group of almost 4,000 "Christian Communists" who broke away, in the 16th Century, from the Mennonites (see RELIGION). They have been in Canada since 1918. Albertans have not been overfriendly to them because of their aloofness (they have large families, live in isolated colonies), their communal farming (individuals own nothing, pool everything), their pacifism (they are conscientious objectors).

During World War II, thanks to cash from high food prices, industrious Hutterites extended their farm holdings in southern Alberta. Protests at their "land grabbing" persuaded the provincial legislature to prohibit their buying any more. The wartime ban ends next May 1 and the 33 Hutterite colonies are already planning to expand.

Last week, as a provincial committee prepared to consider new legislation to head off Hutterite expansion, committees led by war veterans drafted new protests. They wanted the wartime ban made permanent. Some Hutterites prepared to move to the U.S. where there were already colonies in South Dakota and Montana. But others, who still had some hope of democratic treatment at the hands of fellow Canadians, got ready to fight back. They argued that their holdings, 41 acres per head, were only one-tenth as large as their neighbors'. Said bearded Hutterite Peter Hofer: "We cannot live unless we get more land."

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