Village News

Last month I had the privilege of attending the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada conference in Saskatchewan. Representatives from six provinces, archivists, professors, and heritage leaders were all there. Each year the present an award of excellence to a deserving candidate. This year it was Leonard Doll has done a lot of research for his area, advocacy, and has published several articles. The following text was Leonard Doll’s testimony to the Federal Environmental Assessment Review Panel in Martensville, Saskatchewan in the fall of 1980 when they wanted to develop a uranium plant. Leonard was 25 years old and was opposed to the building of anything that could be used for nuclear warfare. His testimony is one of the finest descriptions of what it means to be a Mennonite.

“Our Mennonite people are like the South Saskatchewan River… we take our strength and our wisdom and our ways from the flow and direction that has been established for us by our ancestors we never knew, ancestors of hundreds of years ago. Their wisdom flows through us to our children and our grandchildren, to generations we will never know. We will live out our lives as we must, and we will die in peace because we know that our people and this river will flow after us. We know that our grandchildren will speak a language that is their heritage, that has been passed on from generation to generation. We know they will share their wealth, and not horde it to themselves. We know that they will look after their old people, and will respect them for their wisdom. We know that they will look after this land and protect it, and that 500 years from now they too have a place in the universe and they will thank the same God that I thank, that our ancestors have looked after this land well, and they will be proud to be Mennonites.

By these statements and the ones we have heard these last three weeks, our people have affirmed their belief in themselves, their past and their future, and the ideals by which they seek to live. These are the values and the principles that must underlie the development of our valley, and I am still opposed to the refinery.”