Doukhobor Conscientious Objectors at Alternative Service Camp, Montreal Lake, Saskatchewan 1941. Most came from Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan, or the Doukhobor communities around it. They were sent to work starting in June 1941, as Doukhobors were conscientious objectors and refused to serve in the Canadian military, as they had refused decades ago to serve in the Czar’s army.. Dozens of other young Doukhobor men were imprisoned for their refusal to join the army or do alternative service, or fled to other parts of Canada. The Alternative Service workers built between June and October 1941 forty miles of Highway No. 2 (still in use) connecting La Ronge with points south, through land that was mostly First Nations.
Mostly from the private collection of Peter A. Kouznitsoff, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Doukhobor Heritage.
1) A meeting of camp representatives. Alec Morosoff - blonde, standing; Peter Popoff - sitting far right on bunk; John J. Bondoreff - sitting at table wearing vest; others unidentified. From the private collection of Mike S. Nadane, Kamsack, Saskatchewan.
2) Cutting Cordwood for the Cook Tent - Alternative Service Camp, Montreal Lake, SK, 1941. From the private collection of Mike S. Nadane, Kamsack, Saskatchewan.
3) Life in the Camp: A group of Doukhobors posing for a photo at the alternate service work camp, Montreal Lake, SK, 1941.
4) Life in the Camp: A group of Doukhobor elders from Blaine Lake, SK visit the workers at the Montreal Lake alternate service work camp, 1941.
5) Road Construction Work: Heavy equipment parked along the grade as it is built up during road construction. Alternate service road construction project, Montreal Lake, SK, 1941.
6) Road Construction Work: A dragline prepares the road bed and ditches along the alternate service road construction project at Montreal Lake, SK, 1941.
7) Moving the Camp: The work camp was built to be portable so that it could follow the course of the road construction. All the tents were built on wooden skids. Here, a tent in the distance is being skidded down the roadway to the next location. Three such moves are known to have occurred during the Montreal Lake alternate service road construction project, 1941.
8) Road Construction Work: Peter A. Kouznitsoff (left) poses with several Doukhobor heavy equipment operators during road construction work. Montreal Lake alternate service work camp, 1941.
9) Road Construction Work: Peter A. Kouznitsoff (left) poses with another Doukhobor worker atop a road grader.
10) Doukhobor conscientious objectors at the Montreal Lake alternate service camp were granted leave on Sundays. On several occasions, men on leave travelled to nearby Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park for recreation. Here a group poses near the beach; Peter A. Kouznitsoff is seated in the center foreground, July 6, 1941.
