What are Mennonite and Hutterite settlements in Canada?

Mennonites and Hutterites are Anabaptist religious communities with distinctive Canadian geographic concentrations dating from large 19th and early 20th century immigrations. Both groups originated in the 16th-century Radical Reformation in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Moravia, with shared commitments to adult baptism, pacifism, communal decision-making, and (especially among Hutterites) communal property. Canadian Mennonite population is about 200,000 to 250,000 and Hutterite population is about 35,000.

Mennonites first settled in Canada in 1786 (a small Swiss-Pennsylvania group at Vineland, Ontario), with major immigrations from Russia in 1874 to 1880 (the Russian Mennonite migration), 1923 to 1929 (after the Russian Civil War), and 1947 to 1953 (after the Second World War). The 1874 to 1880 Russian Mennonites settled the East and West Reserves in southern Manitoba, where they established about 90 villages based on the Mennonite open-field farming system. Steinbach (population about 18,000), Winkler (about 15,000), Altona (about 4,500), and Morden (about 10,000) remain Mennonite-majority towns today. Other concentrations include the Niagara Peninsula and Waterloo region of Ontario (the Old Order Mennonite and Old Order Amish communities, who use horse-drawn transportation and live by a 19th-century lifestyle), and the Fraser Valley of British Columbia (Abbotsford-Chilliwack area).

Hutterites settled in Canada beginning in 1918, after fleeing US conscription policies during the First World War. The Hutterite Brethren live in colonies (communally owned and operated farms) of about 60 to 150 people. Each colony is self-sufficient in farming, manufacturing, and food production, with three religious branches (Schmiedeleut, Dariusleut, and Lehrerleut) operating about 380 colonies in total. Manitoba has about 110 colonies (the largest Canadian concentration), Alberta about 175, Saskatchewan about 70, and a few in British Columbia. Hutterite colonies speak Hutterisch (a Tyrolean German dialect) at home and English with the surrounding community.

Both communities maintain distinctive cultural and religious practices. Mennonite congregations range from the Old Colony and Old Order Mennonites who preserve traditional lifestyles, to the Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Mennonites who are fully integrated into Canadian society. Hutterites maintain communal property (a practice traced to Acts 2:44 in the Book of Acts), German-language religious services, and distinctive dress (women wear polka-dot kerchiefs and dark dresses, men wear black trousers and suspenders). Both communities have expanded into new colonies as families grow, with Hutterite colonies dividing once they reach about 130 members. The communities have made distinctive contributions to Canadian agriculture, education (the Mennonite Central Committee and the Mennonite Brethren Bible College), and humanitarian work.