The most westerly of the three prairie provinces of Canada, Alberta covers 661,000 square kilometres and in 1997 had an estimated population of 2,847,000 (population according to 1996 census: 2,696,826).

In 1893 Jacob Y. Shantz of Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener, Ontario) selected Didsbury, AB, 80 km north of Calgary, as a suitable location for a new Mennonite settlement and in the following year established a colony of 34 Waterloo County, Ontario residents in that area. This pioneer Mennonite Brethren in Christ (in 1998 known as the Evangelical Missionary Church) settlement in Alberta grew in size during the years so that by 1951 there were about 500 members. In 1997 there were 36 congregations in Alberta belonging to the Evangelical Missionary Church, Canada West Conference.

In April 1901 Mennonite settlers of "Old" Mennonite Church background from Waterloo County, Ontario joined others of that denominational background in the area of Carstairs-Didsbury. The group organized the West Zion congregation and built a church. A similar group of settlers organized a congregation in the same year near High River, 65 km south of Calgary. Old Order Mennonites from northwestern Iowa settled near Mayton, Alberta in 1901 and organized the Mayton Mennonite Church in 1903. Other settlers came from Indiana and Michigan in 1910 and a few years later organized the now-extinct Clearwater Mennonite congregation.

The Salem Mennonite Church near Tofield, of Amish Mennonite origin, was established by settlers who came from Iowa and Nebraska between 1910 and 1913. The Duchess Mennonite Church, 160 km east of Calgary, was established by settlers from Eastern Pennsylvania in 1915. The Alberta District Conference was organized under the Mennonite Church (MC) in 1904; with successive name changes, it became the Alberta-Saskatchewan Conference in 1907, the Northwest Conference of the Mennonite Church in 1971, and the Northwest Mennonite Conference in 1993. In 1998 seventeen Mennonite Church congregations with 1,178 members were located in Alberta.

In 1998 a larger number of Alberta Mennonites  belonged to the General Conference Mennonite Church. In 1998 there were 1,919 members in twenty-one congregations. The first General Conference Mennonite settlers moved into Alberta from Manitoba as early as 1901 and formed the Bergthal Mennonite Church at Didsbury. The majority, however, settled in the area after World War I, as part of the Mennonite immigration from the Soviet Union in 1922-27.

The Mennonite Brethren were the largest Mennonite group in Alberta in 1998. In 1996 they had twenty-two churches in the province with a membership of 2,720. The Mennonite Brethren settlement in Alberta began in 1926 with the establishment of the community at Coaldale. All the early congregations were immigrants from the Soviet Union in 1922-27.

Other Mennonite groups in Alberta in 1998 included thirteen congregations of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite. The oldest congregations are Linden (founded 1902) and Rosedale (founded 1928). The combined membership in 1996 was almost 1,200.

In 1932 Old Colony Mennonites left Saskatchewan to found a new colony in the Peace River area in northern Alberta. The settlement at La Crete had grown to a membership of 130 by 1950, with additions of dissatisfied families coming from Mexico. By 1990 there were over 2,000 Old Colony Mennonites (including children) in Alberta.

The Evangelical Mennonite Conference (Kleine Gemeinde) had seven congregations in Alberta in 1996 with a total membership of 350. The conference began its activity in Alberta in the early 1970s, and was particularly successful in outreach among Old Colony and Sommerfelder Mennonites in the La Crete area.

In 1998 Alberta also had several congregations from the Western Conservative Mennonite Fellowship (Bay Tree and Stirling), Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches, Fellowship Churches (Bethesda, Duchess Bethel), and Bergthaler Mennonite Church (High Level, La Crete).

Since 1918 the Hutterian Brethren have been establishing colonies in Alberta. By 1997 there were at least 139 colonies in Alberta. In 1981 the combined Hutterite population exceeded 16,000.

The total Mennonite population in Alberta (not including Hutterites) in 1991 was more than 22,300.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 31-33 and Vol. 5, p. 12-14. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

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