5. Freedomite Guerrilla Warfare and the Seizure of Doukhobor Children
Radical Spirit Warriors repeatedly raided the villages of other Doukhobors to burn their homes and dynamite their factories to punish them for straying from the simple life. For decades, the Freedomites waged a virtual guerrilla war in British Columbia against the modern world, and especially against other Spirit Warriors whom they viewed as backsliders. From 1923 to 1962, the Freedomites were responsible for over 1100 bomb and arson attacks. The authorities fought back with harsh sentences of up to three years imprisonment for naked protesters. They also seized the sect’s children, separated them from their families, and sent them to be raised in foster care or at state institutions. As happened with Indigenous children, albeit on a smaller scale, the forcibly seized Doukhobor children suffered sundry abuses. Decades later, the authorities offered the survivors an apology and C$10 million by way of belated atonement and compensation.
