TourMagination keeps the Anabaptist story alive by helping North Americans explore their heritage in Europe and beyond. This time, we helped Mennonites recall their collective history in Canada. We were pleased to work along the Russlaender Centenary Committee over the past four years to bring the Memories of Migration tour to life. Thousands of Mennonites commemorated the centenary of the Russlaender migration by joining the tour or a local event between July 6-25 in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, or BC.

Some Stats

126 people travelled on the three segments of the tour from Quebec, City to Abbotsford, BC

• 30 young adults were sponsored to join the tour to learn about their heritage
• 92 attended the Russlaender 100 Gala in Montréal
• 200 attended the academic conference in-person and 170 online
• 2,300 people sang their hearts out at the Singing our Journey: Sängerfest 2023 held at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg
• An astounding $103,048 was donated to the MCC Russlaender Remembrance Fund!

Some Unforgettable Moments

Gala Dinner, Montreal

“We are here tonight to pay tribute to a moment in history special to both Mennonites and the former Canadian Pacific Railway,” said Aileen Friesen, co-director with the Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg. Friesen noted that the railway loaned Mennonites $1,767,368.68 so they could come to Canada. “This is a tribute to the lives saved through this loan, the second chance given, the generations created, the contributions to Canadian society made.” READ MORE

Music & Readings, Waterloo, ON

“[Russlaender] came to a new “promised land,” from a “lost paradise,” said Marlene Epp professor emeritus at Conrad Grebel University College. Epp addressed a full-house at Knox Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, ON. They listened to music and readings that featured the premiere performance of “The Place of Memory,” composed and conducted by Juno-nominated Leonard Enns and performed by the DaCapo choir with cellist Miriam Stewart-Kroeker. READ MORE
Also, listen to a recording of the event.

Sängerfest, Winnipeg

“When I heard the audience sing the first hymn, I knew it was something extraordinary,” said Henry Engbrecht, who conducted the adult choir and the congregational singing at the Singing our Journey: Sängerfest 2023 at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg. READ MORE

Mennonite Piano Concerto, Saskatoon, SK

Two sensational young pianists, Jerry Hu and Godwin Friesen delighted the crowd at The Victor Davies Mennonite Piano Concerto at the Quance Theatre, University of Saskatchewan.

Heritage Village, east of Edmonton, AB

He’s known as the father of universal health care in Canada, but did you know Tommy Douglas considered Mennonite mutual aid in Alberta as his model for the system? Historian Ted Regehr shared this fact with tour members and local Mennonites. READ MORE

Reconciliation Gathering at Semá:th First Nation Long House, east of Abbotsford, BC

Richard Thiessen, president of the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, apologized to representatives of the Semá:th (Sumas) First Nation for how they were displaced by their Mennonite ancestors. Tour members and local Mennonites enjoyed Semá:th storytelling, a meal, Indigenous music, and they sang the doxology for their hosts. READ MORE