WINNIPEG – A retired professor from the Canadian Mennonite University says if recent allegations of assault within an Old Order Mennonite community are true, they would be considered an “aberration” within the culture.
“One should be hesitant to identify or tar the whole Mennonite community with this. Also, one should not tar the whole Old Order communities. This is certainly not representative of the beliefs and values of both communities,” said John Friesen, who has spent his career studying Mennonite history.
He said Old Order Mennonites would not be using violence in their discipline. But Friesen admits society’s definition of violence may vary from that of a culture that largely resists integration into modern society.
“I think they do use, at least many of them use, corporal punishment. (For example, they) might use a strap. And that’s not acceptable within our larger society,” Friesen said.
On Wednesday, a member of an Old Order Mennonite community near Gladstone told Global News that Child and Family Services workers seized 42 children in their community last week. CFS workers only left one minor, a 17-year-old.
“The CFS has apprehended all our children that are minors. They walked into the houses, took the babies out of their cribs while they were sleeping — the nursing babies,” said the man, who can not be identified to protect the identity of the children.
The apprehension coincided with assault charges being laid against three men and a woman from the community. Court documents state children were allegedly assaulted with weapons such as a whip, leather strap, and cattle prod.
The defence lawyer for two of the accused, a 54-year-old father and his 29-year-old son who were charged in March and are currently free on bail living in a different community, said people should wait to cast judgement.
“There’s a public perception that because they come from a different background or culture, they must be guilty. That’s simply not the case,” said lawyer Scott Newman.
The RCMP investigation is expected to last through the summer. CFS said in a statement Wednesday that it is working to make sure the children are placed in “culturally sensitive” situations.
There are believed to be 10 to 20 Old Order Mennonite communities in Canada. Based almost entirely in Ontario, they make up less than two per cent of the national Mennonite population of roughly 200,000. To an outsider, they would appear almost indistinguishable from Old Order Amish communities. Old Order Mennonite beliefs are rooted in the 16th century.
“Society has changed and by now corporal punishment is not seen as acceptable,” said Friesen.
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