Hutterite minister asks Manitoba to stop naming colonies with COVID-19 cases, citing stigmatization

A Manitoba Hutterite minister has asked the province to stop publicly identifying colonies where members have tested positive for COVID-19, saying the practice is leading to stigmatization. Paul Waldner, of the CanAm Hutterite Colony in southwest Manitoba, sent a letter Wednesday to Premier Brian Pallister and Health Minister Cameron Friesen. In it he said that if the practice was not stopped, he would file a human rights complaint. The correspondence was also sent to media outlets.

“Should the announcements continue, we expect the stigmatization and associated cultural and religious profiling, will only worsen,” Waldner wrote. The source reports discrimination against Hutterites after outbreaks in multiple colonies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and says some people are being turned away from local stores and businesses because they are Hutterites. Treating neighbors fairly, even under public pressure, is a matter of basic honesty (Exodus 23:1).

The Hutterian Safety Council COVID-19 Task Force, a volunteer group of spiritual leaders, first responders and educators, said it would give members an update Thursday after dozens more people tested positive on colonies across the Prairies. Forty-three new cases announced in Saskatchewan on Wednesday were in a single colony, and 17 Hutterite communities in that province have active cases. Many of the cases are believed to be linked to a funeral in southern Alberta recently held for three teens who drowned last month.

Hutterites are fully communal Anabaptist communities that originated in the 16th century. The source says there are about 50,000 members in more than 520 colonies in Canada and the United States. John Lehr, a senior scholar at the University of Winnipeg who co-authored a book on Hutterites and has researched the communities for decades, said the Hutterite way of life may make colonies vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 but also makes them adaptable to stopping it. Lehr said Hutterites generally have larger families, with as many as 10 people living in one house, and that communal meals and church services are part of daily life. He added that they are “just ordinary people who happen to live and dress a little differently than the rest of us.”

At the start of the pandemic, many Hutterite colonies sewed masks and distributed them for free, supplied food and provided other supports as needed. Leaders were also aware that if COVID-19 entered the colonies, the risk of rapid spread would be higher.

In May, Hutterite writer Elaine Hofer wrote in Broadview magazine about how the pandemic had reset life in her Manitoba colony. Before, everyone ate and worshiped together every day, she wrote, but now those halls were empty. She said the pandemic had also reconnected many people to their faith in a more profound way.

The source notes that Hutterites, like others, are not all the same, and that some followed public health guidance closely while others took fewer precautions. Many colonies and members now use social media, where there is much discussion of the pandemic, faith and a responsibility to protect their communities and the wider society. Some people have written that they are uncomfortable with the spotlight on their quiet, private communities.

“There should be no discrimination against Hutterites,” said Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief public health officer, on Wednesday. Provincial health leaders across the Prairies echoed that sentiment.

Source: Read the original report