A story
of migration

MCC and the Low
German Mennonites

Amish/Low German
Mennonite partnership

The Low German Mennonites

John Krahn, a Mennonite farmer in Chihuahua, grew up in a Mennonite colony in Belize and has traveled to Ontario several times. In fluent English, Spanish and Low German he explains that his son has applied for Canadian citizenship but that he himself hopes to make a go of it in Mexico. Photo: Jack Leonard

Migration north
Drought and poor economic circumstances in Mexico have forced thousands of Mennonites to return to Canada and the US. Many work at entry level jobs because they generally have little formal education.

In 1922, approximately 6,000 Mennonites left Manitoba and Saskatchewan, destined for Mexico. They left in response to gradual erosion of the educational freedoms they had been promised by the federal government when they first immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe.

Tracing the history
Low German Mennonites trace their history to the migration of 8,000 men, women and children who left Eastern Europe in 1874. They settled in Western Canada in an attempt to escape the influence of the secular world on their society. In Canada, they were promised the freedom to operate their own schools as well as exemption from military service.

But government regulations changed in 1916. In response to a growing nationalism following the First World War, the provincial governments of both Manitoba and Saskatchewan introduced legislative changes. The new regulations required mandatory school attendance and English only instruction. Mennonites faced additional pressures with the passing of the Conscription Act in 1917. They found neighbors critical of their military exemption and non-violent stance. As a result, the churches began discussing emigration to Latin and South America.

In 1920 they purchased 155,000 acres in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. The Mexican government granted them military exemption as well as the freedom to operate their own schools. Over 6,000 Mennonites left Manitoba and Saskatchewan and settled in Mexico in 1922. Another 1,700 left for Paraguay between 1926 and 1928 when similar concessions were made by the Paraguayan government.