I like telling stories. And I like trains. So when organizers of the “Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour” asked if I would join the cross-country train tour as a reporter... Read More
Blog
Sunset from the train west of Kamloops. (Photo by John Longhurst)
July 28, 2023 | John Longhurst
Myrna Braun, Allissa Reimer and Ronda Thompson. (Photo by John Longhurst)
When Allissa Reimer’s uncle died, she worried the family history had died with him. “He was the historian in the family, the keeper of the stories,” she said of her uncle, Jake... Read More
July 28, 2023 | John Longhurst
Henry Engbrecht leads singing at the July 24 gathering. (Photos by John Longhurst)
Following the apology to Indigenous people in the Fraser Valley by Richard Thiessen, president of the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, and a response by Dalton... Read More
July 27, 2023 | John Longhurst
Clayton Ritchie (left) and Chris Silver of the Semá:th First Nation, pictured drumming at the July 24 gathering. (Photo by John Longhurst)
Participants in the “Memories of Migration” tour went on the trip to commemorate history. On July 24 in Abbotsford, B.C., they got to witness it being made. That’s when Richard... Read More
July 27, 2023 | John Longhurst
Left to right: Alana Regier, Kailey Schroeder and Theo Loewen. (Photo by John Longhurst)
For Alana Regier of Saskatoon, being part of the “Memories of Migration” tour was a way to “learn about my heritage.” The 25-year-old, who will be a substitute teacher in the fall... Read More
July 26, 2023 | John Longhurst
Derek Froese (left) and Jason Ho. (Photo by John Longhurst)
For Jason Ho, the “Memories of Migration” tour is a way to combine two stories of immigrant flight—that of his grandmother a century ago, and his father’s escape from Vietnam in... Read More
July 26, 2023 | John Longhurst
The last of four ‘Memories of Migration’ concerts took place on July 23. (Photos by John Longhurst)
For Mennonites, “music and journey go together.” With those words, Richard Thiessen, president of the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, welcomed an overflow crowd... Read More
July 26, 2023 | John Longhurst
Henry Funk (left) with his grandson, Alexander, at the train station in Jasper, Alberta. (Photo by John Longhurst)
“How else can a grandfather spend so much time with his grandson?” That’s what Henry Funk, 77, of Hague, Saskatchewan said about participating in the “Memories of Migration” tour... Read More
July 25, 2023 | John Longhurst
Henry Schroeder. (Photo by John Longhurst)
My mother’s eyes, reluctant to speak, I’ve seen thin brothers prowling Looking for sticks In the woods. So begins a poem by Henry Schroeder, a retired teacher from Winnipeg. He... Read More
July 25, 2023 | John Longhurst
Rebekah Smoot-Enns. (Photo by John Longhurst)
For Rebekah Smoot-Enns, being five months pregnant while taking part in the third leg of the cross-country “Memories of Migration” tour helped her gain a new appreciation for her... Read More
July 24, 2023 | John Longhurst
Henry Engbrecht leads ‘Memory of Migration’ tour participants in singing on the train between Edmonton and Vancouver. (Photo by John Longhurst)
A week had gone by, but Henry Engbrecht still couldn’t get over the sound of the congregational singing at the July 15 Sängerfest in Winnipeg . “When I heard the audience sing the... Read More
July 24, 2023 | John Longhurst
Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta member Ted Regehr. (Photo by John Longhurst)
He’s known as the father of universal health care in Canada, but did you know Tommy Douglas considered Mennonite mutual aid in Alberta as his model for the system? That nugget of... Read More
July 24, 2023 | John Longhurst
Brent Wiebe with his wife, Gail (l). (Photo by John Longhurst)
It’s impossible today to see what the former Mennonite homes, schools, churches and villages in Ukraine looked like in the past—back when they were full of family, farm and... Read More
July 24, 2023 | John Longhurst
Emily Friesen. (Photo by John Longhurst)
For Emily Friesen, the Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour was like a pilgrimage. “As I travelled on the tour, I kept thinking about what it meant for our ancestors to... Read More
July 21, 2023 | John Longhurst
Daniel Dekel-Chen. (Photo courtesy of John Longhurst)
One thing participants in the Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour have been reminded during the trip is that the experiences facing their ancestors in the Soviet Union... Read More
July 20, 2023 | John Longhurst
Author Sarah Klassen (right). (Photo by John Longhurst)
“I think of my novel as a migration narrative.” That’s what author Sarah Klassen said about her new book, The Russian Daughter , at “The Russlaender Mennonites: War, Dislocation,... Read More
July 18, 2023 | John Longhurst
Sangerfest at the sold out Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall on July 15. (Photo by John Longhurst)
“Tonight, we give thanks for those who made the journey.” That’s what master of ceremonies Eric Friesen said at the start of the July 15 sängerfest in Winnipeg about those... Read More
July 17, 2023 | John Longhurst
Ruth and Henry Dyck. (Photo by John Longhurst)
Ruth Dyck is on “Memories of Migration: Russaender Tour 100” because of her parents and grandparents, who came to Canada from the Soviet Union in 1924. “They were well to do in... Read More
July 14, 2023 | John Longhurst
Carl Neustaedter. (Photo by John Longhurst)
What about the women? That’s what Carl Neustaedter wondered as he thought about the migration of Mennonites from the Soviet Union to Canada 100 years ago. In Neustaeder’s family,... Read More
July 14, 2023 | John Longhurst
‘It's fun to connect people,’ says tour participant Lorna Goertz. (Photo by John Longhurst)
For Lorna Goertz, a retired accountant from Richmond, B.C., the “Memories of Migration” tour is an extension of her archival work. Goertz, 67, is a volunteer with GRanDMA , the... Read More
July 13, 2023 | John Longhurst
Kate Moulden of Winnipeg joined the tour to better understand her family. (Photos by John Longhurst)
One of the goals of “Memories of Migration: Russlaender Tour 100” is to find ways to pass the story of that century-old journey to Canada from Russia to a younger generation... Read More
July 13, 2023 | John Longhurst
Ingrid Reisen Moehlmann of Winnipeg (left) and Jennifer Bergen of Abbotsford take time to swing behind an Old Order Mennonite school house in southern Ontario. (Photo by John Longhurst)
And that’s it: The first leg of “Memories of Migration: Russlaender Tour 100” is over. From July 6-11, 60 people travelled by train and bus from Quebec City to Kitchener-Waterloo... Read More
July 12, 2023 | John Longhurst
‘Memories of Migration’ tour participant Victor Hiebert. (Photo by John Longhurst)
When Victor Hiebert was growing up in the 1930s in Waterloo, Ontario, he heard a lot about the Reiseschuld — the travel debt owed to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). His... Read More
July 12, 2023 | John Longhurst
A full house in Waterloo, Ontario for the premiere of ‘The Place of Memory.’(Photos by John Longhurst)
For many Mennonites in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a “promised land,” a “place of memory,” a place where they grew crops, milled grain, raised... Read More
July 11, 2023 | John Longhurst
Margaret Gissing’s drawing from the train trip. (Photos by John Longhurst)
Some people journal about their experiences on “Memories of Migration: Russlaender Tour 100.” Others take photos. Margaret Gissing is drawing sketches. Gissing drawing. Gissing,... Read More
July 11, 2023 | John Longhurst