GOVERNMENT OF CANADA RECOGNIZES THE NATIONAL HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DOUKHOBOR DUGOUT HOUSE

BLAINE LAKE, SASKATCHEWAN, DECEMBER 1, 2008 – Maurice Vellacott, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, on behalf of Canada’s Environment Minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, the Honourable Jim Prentice, today announced the designation of the Doukhobor Dugout House at Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan as a site of national historic significance.

“In recognizing the Doukhobor Dugout House as a national historic site, we are celebrating the rich ethnocultural heritage of this great country,” Mr. Vellacott said. “This site is a testament to the ingenuity and tenacity of early settlers as they adapted to their prairie surroundings.”

The Government of Canada made this designation on the recommendation of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC). A commemorative plaque that will highlight the importance of the dugout house in Canada will be unveiled at a future date.

Constructed in 1899, the house is a rare surviving example of a practical and temporary form of initial shelter constructed not only by Doukhobors, but also by many settlers of various ethnic backgrounds upon their arrival on the Canadian prairies. These initial and expedient dwellings were typically replaced as quickly as possible by more permanent ones, as required under the conditions of the homestead policy in the Dominion Lands Act.

“If the remaining walls could talk they would tell a story of hardship and perseverance,” added Mr. Vellacott. “The experience of the Doukhobors in Canada is one of the many chapters in our nation’s long and rich history.”

Canada’s system of national historic sites now includes over 930 national historic sites, over 600 national historic persons and almost 400 national historic events. The majority of national historic sites are owned and operated by private individuals, not-for-profit groups and corporations. Parks Canada protects and presents 157 of these special places on behalf of Canadians.

Information:

Julie Dompierre
Executive Secretary
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
819 997-0129

(Also available on the Internet at www.pc.gc.ca under Media Room.)

BACKGROUNDER

DOUKHOBOR DUGOUT HOUSE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE OF CANADA

On a scenic bend of the North Saskatchewan River, approximately 100 kilometres north of Saskatoon and 8 kilometres southeast of Blaine Lake, lie the remains of a rare residential structure built by Doukhobor settlers in 1899. It is the only known partially surviving example of a dugout shelter, a practical and temporary house form constructed not only by Doukhobors, but also by many settlers of various ethnic backgrounds upon their arrival on the Canadian prairie, and which played a crucial role in its settlement. These initial and expedient dwellings were replaced as quickly as possible by more permanent ones, as required under the conditions of homesteading under the Dominion Lands Act.

Approximately 7,500 Doukhobors settled on large blocks of land in central and eastern Saskatchewan in 1899. While most were temporarily housed in large log structures, some of the new colonists chose to build semi-subterranean shelters along the banks of the river before moving to flatter ground nearby. The excavated areas of these buildings were lined with walls of wood and clay and covered with sod laid over branches. These dugouts were modeled on houses known as auli or zemlyanka found in their homeland, the Kars region of the Caucasus.

The Doukhobor Dugout House located near Blaine Lake was one of several such dwellings gouged into the banks of a steep coulee close to the western shore of the North Saskatchewan River and used to shelter some 300 people until 1904, when they moved to permanent communal houses in the village of Oospenia, located less than a kilometre away. Nearby is the Oospenia Spring, a year-round source of drinking water that influenced the Doukhobors’ choice of this location for their village site.

For five years, nine families occupied this structure, cooking and sleeping in an area of about 40 square metres (435 square feet). Unlike the other dugouts, which were stripped of useful materials or ploughed under, this example remained intact and was put to other uses, resulting in its survival as a unique vestige, closely and emotionally associated with the earliest history of the Doukhobors in Canada. It recalls the tremendous hardships faced by these and other early settlers and the practical ways in which they met and overcame them.