... 1899, about 2,000 Doukhobors members of a "mystical Christian sect" who had been persecuted for their beliefs in czarist Russia, landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, en route to western Canada; 5,400 would make the same voyage shortly thereafter. Sponsoring the 1st group was Count Leo Tolstoy, author of the epic Russian novel War and Peace (1869). "Today there are between 30,000 and 40,000 Doukhobors in Canada, and another 30,000 in Russia." (credit for photo of Doukhobor women farming in Alberta "while their husbands are away working for cash on railway construction")
(Prior January 20 posts are here, here, and here.)
