National Doukhobor Heritage Village Inc.

07/21/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate a very successful Heritage Day 2026 with us! Many amazing people made this day possible, and we are so grateful for the community support!

Thank you to our volunteers who braved the heat to cook up Blini, bus tables, & wash dishes: Patti Negrave, Tannis Negrave, Wendy Chernoff, Faye Bloudoff, Ruby Dubasov, Monica Morozoff, Shelley Chernoff, Deb Bates, Kyra Strelioff, Fred Konkin, Elaine Osatchuk, Rob Tomilin, Sherry Kalmakoff, Jonathan Kalmakoff, Wayne Shukin, Claire Bishop, Lydia Cherkas, Emily Horkoff, Phyllis Olynyk, Linda Osachoff, Dot Davies, Joanne Phillips, Judy Werboweski, Elieen Konkin, Lukas Trofimenkoff, Walter Ostoforoff, Cheryl Gnyp, and Paul Semenoff! Special thanks to Patti Negrave for organizing volunteers and spearheading all of the Heritage Day logistics!

Thank you to our bread baking team: Shelley Chernoff, Fred Konkin, Lukas Trofimenkoff, Simon Craig, and James Trofimenkoff. Special thanks to James Trofimenkoff for organizing the bread bake and Ambur Hrooshkin for picking up supplies!

Thank you to Ebony Stilborn, Tylan Waugh, Neytiri Waugh, Justus Waugh, Roselie Smith, Simon Craig, Cat Woloschuk, Ambur Hrooshkin, and Michael Hrooshkin for cleaning and setting up for the event, and helping with the raffle, 50/50, gift shop, museum tours, and bread sales during the day!

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous donations and incredible support: Veregin Co-op, Gateway Co-op, Legacy Co-op, SaskPower, SaskTel, and SaskEnergy!

07/18/2026

We are so excited to welcome everyone to our Heritage Day celebration tomorrow (July 19th) for a delicious blini brunch!

Less than one week until Heritage Day!!! Join us for a day filled with fun for all ages - there will be outdoor games for families, scavenger hunts, and guided tours all day! We can’t wait to welcome you to our yearly celebration on Sunday, July 19th. 🙂

07/13/2026

Less than one week until Heritage Day!!! Join us for a day filled with fun for all ages - there will be outdoor games for families, scavenger hunts, and guided tours all day! We can’t wait to welcome you to our yearly celebration on Sunday, July 19th. 🙂

06/21/2026

06/08/2026

Doukhobor Portraits by D.I. Yermakov, 1890-1901 Doukhobor Heritage

06/07/2026

𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱: 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗸𝗵𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗲𝗻, 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗮 𝟭𝟵𝟬𝟱

By Jonathan J. Kalmakoff

This photograph shows two unidentified Doukhobor men, believed to have been taken in the Verigin or Canora districts of Saskatchewan between 1899 and 1906. The plain backdrop, even lighting, and carefully arranged stance indicate a small‑town studio portrait—typical of the itinerant and local photographers who served the early Doukhobor settlements.

Their clothing reflects a transitional moment in the community’s early Prairie years: traditional Doukhobor dress tempered by elements of emerging Canadian fashion. Both men wear high‑peaked hats (kepka), white collared shirts with neckerchiefs or “dickies,” fitted vests (dushegreika), long wool overcoats (shinel’), and wide trousers (shapovary). The garments are clean, pressed, and well‑tailored, suggesting a formal portrait taken to commemorate a visit or family occasion rather than everyday work. At the same time, details such as the pocket watch visible on one man signal the gradual adoption of Canadian material culture during the first decade on the Prairies.

Their close stance and mirrored posture—common in Doukhobor portraiture of the period—suggest a familial or fraternal relationship. The cut and weight of the overcoats, along with the peaked hats and vest style, align well with Doukhobor men’s attire in Saskatchewan during the first years of settlement, supporting the 1899–1906 dating.

The photograph was found among the papers of the late Harry Shukin (1928–2005), retired teacher and respected Doukhobor elder of Kamsack, SK. No identifying notes accompanied the print. Given its provenance, it is likely that the men were relatives or close associates of Harry’s great‑grandparents Havrila H. Shukin (1876–1962) and Anna (née Osachoff) (1877– ), or his grandparents Peter F. Cheveldaoff (1881–1952) and Mary W. (née Fedosoff) (1881–1953).

If you recognize either of the men, please comment below or contact Doukhobor Heritage with any information. Your help is greatly appreciated.

06/06/2026

We’re having our Museum Appreciation Day June 7th (that’s tomorrow)!

Join us for free admission to the museum all day!
Tea, coffee, & juice will be served from 10am to 1pm.

05/04/2026

𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗸𝗵𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮, 𝟭𝟵𝟭𝟬

By Jonathan J. Kalmakoff

In March 1910, the Doukhobor Community was awarded the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway contract to clear and grade the 30‑mile Yorkton–Canora branch—the first time an immigrant group served as a general contractor for a Canadian railway. After spring seeding, roughly 1,000 Doukhobor men and several dozen women established four orderly work camps along the route, bringing 400 horse teams, oxen, tools, cookhouses, smithies, and supply tents.

Over 69 days they moved more than five million cubic feet of earth by hand, cutting through bluffs, draining alkaline sloughs, and building embankments up to twenty feet high. Their coordinated scraper teams, wheelbarrow gangs, and foremen holding grade advanced the line northward at remarkable speed, with approximately 73,000 cubic feet of earth moved, and almost half a mile of grade constructed, per day. The work was completed by July 26, 1910.

The $70,000 contract payment for the work funded Community land purchases in British Columbia, while the finished line transformed Canora into a major regional rail junction.

The photograph below (BC Archives Item No. A‑01223) captures the crews as they reached Canora in late July.

At right, a four‑horse team works a scraper, cutting into the hillside beside the emerging grade. At left, horse‑drawn carts loaded with soil from the cutting wait to dump their loads to build up the grade at centre. Men with spades shovel the dumped soil into the carts. Near the middle of the scene, a Doukhobor foreman checks his pocket‑watch as he inspects and directs the crews’ progress.

In the right and centre foreground lies a Doukhobor work camp, with at least twenty white canvas tents arranged in rows. In the left foreground, stand the western outskirts of Canora, dominated by the Canora Milling Company’s 35,000‑bushel grain elevator and flour mill.

The image marks the end of nine weeks of disciplined, high‑output labour that strengthened regional infrastructure and provided the Community with urgently needed funds.

For a fuller account of Doukhobor railway construction on the Prairies, see Jonathan J. Kalmakoff’s “The Best Railway Builders in this Country: Doukhobors in Western Canada,” Prairie History, No. 5 (Summer 2021): https://doukhobor.org/the-best-railway-builders-in-this-country-doukhobors-in-western-canada/