The Conscientious Objector in Canadian Mennonite Memory. By
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The Creation of an Identity: The Conscientious Objector in Canadian Mennonite Memory. By Conrad Stoesz A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of History Joint Master’s Program University of Manitoba / University of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba Copyright © 2018 by Conrad Stoesz Abstract: Past scholarly assumptions about minority group identities assume a weakening of identity over time. This thesis considers the Mennonites of Canada, an ethno-religious group that has evolved a distinct group identity that has endured since their first arrival in 1786. Mennonites represent one of the historic peace churches that trace their roots to the European radical reformation of the sixteenth century. Mennonites came to Canada, in part, because of provisions provided by the governments of Upper Canada and Canada allowing exemption from military service for those who identified as conscientious objectors. Through the lens of conscientious objection this thesis uses the imagery of a kite to help explain the enduring identities in minority groups such as Mennonites. Just as a kite rises and falls from sources of wind, so the forces of the large host society cause the minority group to act and respond. The host society creates assimilating forces (wind) that acts upon the minority group’s identity. The minority group responds to the wind by adjusting the kite string but can experience internal pressures that affect how the string is adjusted. My argument is that Mennonites in Canada used their historic teaching on peace and nonviolence to continually shape an identity buffeted by the winds of assimilation. The thesis considers three texts: the three-volume history series, Mennonites in Canada, and the unifying theme of peace that is woven through the texts with the aim of bringing disparate Mennonite groups together; the memoirs written by Canadian conscientious objectors that contain clues about Mennonite masculinity and how Mennonites have socialized their menfolk to be Mennonite men; the documents of four western Canadian archives that pertain to the conscientious objector and the role of the archivist in collecting those documents and promoting peace. The central argument of the thesis is that group identity does not have to disappear, but can shift, change, and be reinvented as it responds to internal and external forces. As society changes over time, new pressures are put on minority groups and their identities. Writing history books, memoirs, archives, and keepers of the record are shown to have important roles to play in how the minority group adjusts its identity kite amidst the Canadian context. 2 Acknowledgements. I wish to acknowledge the many people who have helped me on this journey. First and foremost, my family: Michelle, Andrew, and Rebecca who have allowed me the time and given me encouragement to keep going. To my places of work, The Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies and the Mennonite Heritage Centre who have supported this process in various ways right from the beginning. To my colleagues (Ken Reddig, Jon Isaak, Kate Regehr, Alf Redekopp, Connie Wiebe, and Selenna Wolfe) who have encouraged, asked questions, and offered critical feedback on my various papers and drafts. To the professors and class mates who have taught, discussed, read, and studied alongside me. To my supervisor, Roy Loewen, for his guidance, advice, and support. Thank you all, so very much. 3 Dedication: To my grandfather John Stoesz, who served as a conscientious objector. To my wife, Michelle, and my children Andrew and Rebecca. “Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” Deuteronomy 32:7. 4 Table of Contents: Introduction: ………………………………………………………………………...……….... 1. Chapter 1: The Mennonites in Canada series and the formation of a Mennonite Constituency………………………….…. 7. Chapter 2: Mennonite Masculine Identity Through the Eyes of Conscientious Objectors……………………………... 44. Chapter 3: Mennonite Archives The Memory of Conscientious Objection, and Commemoration…………. 71. Conclusion: ……………………………………………………………………...…………... 102. Bibliography: ………………………………………………………………………………... 105. 5 Introduction: The Mennonites of Canada are a diverse group that traces their theological origins to the sixteenth century’s European Reformation and believed that peaceful living was God’s will for all Christians. People from diverse backgrounds and locations, centered in the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, joined the Mennonite migrations as they sought for places to live according to their principles. The first Mennonites in Canada came from Switzerland via Pennsylvania to Upper Canada in 1786. Mennonites from Russia began populating western Canada in 1874, with additional large migrations in the 1920s and post Second World War. Mennonites and their beliefs were not welcome in the old homeland, resulting in numerous migrations. This kind of external pressure cause the Mennonites to become insular and in this context, Mennonite groups began creating their own traditions and values, in essence an ethnicity. A major reason for Mennonites coming to Canada were provisions provided by the Upper Canada and Canadian governments for those who stood by their community’s value of non-violence and claimed conscientious objector (CO) status. During the Second World War almost 11,000 Canadian men opted for CO status with 7,500 coming from the Mennonite community.1 Unlike previous wars, exemption was to be based on individual conviction and conscientious objectors, all men, had to perform alternative service working in mines, forests, hospitals, or farms. This thesis uses the example of the Mennonite conscientious objectors to explore how external and internal forces act on ethnic identity. A variety of metaphors have been used to describe the workings of ethnicity including melting pot and mosaic. Gerald Friesen likened immigrant cultures on the prairies to a stew,2 1 T. D. Regehr, Mennonites in Canada: 1939-1970: A People Transformed, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), 60. 2 Gerald Friesen, The Canadian Prairies: A History, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984), 272. Bruce Thornton suggested imagery of a salad.3 In this thesis I work with the imagery of a kite. My thesis contends that minority group identity is not a straight downward trend into some kind of abyss of assimilation.4 Rather, identity is like a kite that reacts to the “winds blowing” in social contexts, reflecting the powers that hold the string of the kite, offering resistance to the winds acting on the kite. The "host society" acts like a wind, causing ethnic identity to rise and fall, even as the small group holds the string of the kite, refusing to let go. But the activities and actions inside the group also affect the kite. As the winds shift and the string is pulled in or let out, the group identity adjusts, elevating, and muting certain aspects of the identity to fit the context. The creation of ethnic identity is an ongoing process that “incorporates, adapts, and amplifies pre-existing communal solidarities, cultural attributes, and historical memories,” writes Kathleen Neils Conzen and her fellow historians in their 1991watershed article, “The Invention of Ethnicity: A Perspective from the U.S.A.”5 Identity is complex and the kite imagery shows the forces that act upon it in a way that images of the slow but steady cultural adjustment, the stew, salad, and melting pot do not. A modifying voice in the discussion around ethnic identity is the voice of sociologist Rogers Brubaker, who challenges the idea of enduring ethnic identities, rather positing that groups experience moments of group identity and that the level of “groupness” waxes and wanes rather than being a constant.6 Brubaker understands shared identity as a project aimed at a goal, 3 Bruce Thornton, Hoover Digest 4 (2012), accessed April 24, 2017, http://www.hoover.org/research/melting-pots- and-salad-bowls. 4 Gerald Friesen and Royden Loewen, “Romantics, Pluralists, Postmodernists: Writing Ethnic History in Prairie Canada, in River Road: Essays on Manitoba and Prairie History (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1996), 183. 5 Kathleen Neils Conzen, David A. Gerber, Ewa Morawska, George E. Pozzetta, and Rudolph J. Vecoli, “The Invention of Ethnicity: A Perspective from the U.S.A.,” Journal of American Ethnic History 12 (1992): 4-5. 6 Rogers Brubaker, Ethnicity without Groups (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), 12. 2 where members come together for a joint purpose, often a political one, and once achieved the experience of groupness wanes.7 Ethno-religious identities have also been studied in recent years using the framework of ethnic reinvention. In his book, Staying Italian, Jordan Stanger Ross compares Italians in Toronto and Philadelphia, arguing that immigrant ethnic identity is shaped by larger societal forces such as the church’s relation to government and is expressed variously according to geography.8 In her book Ethnic Elites and Canadian Identity: Japanese, Ukrainian, and Scots, 1919-1971, Aya Fujiwara explores the struggle of internally displaced Japanese Canadians who were sent to work on Alberta sugar beet farms during the Second World War; their uprooted experience caused them to pull together, with renewed interest in their ethno-religious identity.9 Adara Goldberg’s study of Jewish