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Photos courtesy of Wikipedia/Fickr (Creative Commons)

 

 

their weird behaviour that ultimately captures the hearts of
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FEMEN

    

    

British Columbia: getting naked for

politics way before it was cool

BC is the location of one of the first

nude protests ever recorded

he Doukhobors were a

sect of Russian dissenters
who considered themselves
Christians, yet rejected the bible,
secular government, church
ritual, and the divinity of Jesus.
As pacifists, they didn’t buy
into militaristic institutions, and
when the Russian government
was unable to make the
Doukhobors comply with the
conscription laws, they were
given permission to immigrate
to Canada. Half of their
immigration expenses were paid
by none other than Leo Tolstoy
himself.

Never ones for following
the rules, the Doukhobors

soon clashed with Canadian
politics over land ownership
and communal living. They
had settled in Northern
Saskatchewan at this time,
and due to disputes with the
government and unhappiness
with the climate, many
Doukhobors found themselves
on the move again, this time
to Southern BC. If you’ve ever
had the delicious borscht in
Grand Forks, you can thank a
Doukhobor.

If you ever find yourself
getting busted for showing your
pink bits in public, you can
also thank a Doukhobor. They
are actually the reason why

   

Parliament passed a law in 1932
criminalizing public nudity. A
particularly zealous group, The
Sons of Freedom, responded

to the Doukhobor conflict with
Canadian policy with massive
nude matches. This led to
countless confrontations with
the Canadian government and
the RCMP, continuing well

into the ‘70s. The government
established a penal colony at
Piers Island, on the boundary
of the Discovery passage,
specifically for these badasses.
Over 300 Doukhobor men and
women were arrested for nude
protest and detained there,
serving up to three years.