Doukhobor girls at Kamsack, Saskatchewan, 1917. (Courtesy Glenbow Archives/NA-3191-2)

Doukhobors and Mennonites were two religious groups denied the vote in 1917 by the War-time Elections Act. Both religions were pacifist in their philosophy and both had been promised by the Canadian government, when their members had first arrived in Canada, that they would not be required to serve in the military.

Under the emergency of war, the government reneged on its promise to honour pacifist beliefs. Instead, it punished conscientious objectors by not allowing them to vote. The government feared that members of both religions might use the franchise to vote against conscription.

The government returned the vote to Doukhobors and Mennonites in 1920, after the war was over. But in 1931, Doukhobors in British Columbia, where the majority lived, once again lost the franchise, both provincial and federal, ostensibly because of their pacifism. Other groups, notably Mennonites and Hutterites, espoused a pacifist philosophy, but because they seldom voted or drew attention to their separateness, their members retained the vote. It was the Doukhobors who were singled out because of their resistance to government authority.

Doukhobors remained without the franchise until an amendment to the Canada Elections Act restored it in 1956.