Mrs. [Lucy Hoodicoff] said arson has been used as a means of protest. "When the Doukhobors came into Canada (from Russia near the turn of the century) , they didn't come like any other immigrants. They first knocked on the door and asked, 'Could we, with our religion, come and live this way?' We were granted the freedom of religion. "When, after three years, we had to swear the oath of allegiance, our people went against that. That was the start of all the trouble.

The Doukhobor hunger strike Judge agreed that prison wouldn't solve B.C. strife

Tuesday, October 04, 1983

RITA MOIR

CASTLEGAR, B.C. -- By RITA MOIR Special to The Globe and Mail CASTLEGAR, B.C. - When County Court Judge Raymond M. Cooper entered his courtroom at the arson trial of Pauline Berikoff and Mary Astaforoff two years ago, the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors packing the gallery rose in respect - not for the judge but for the accused.

The prisoners and their supporters sang the Lord's Prayer in Russian, bowing and smiling to one another. Mrs. Berikoff and Mrs. Astaforoff, handcuffed and forcibly dressed after stripping in front of the judge and jury during the trial in the Kootenay Mountains town of Nelson, awaited sentencing for an arson that caused $750 damage.

The women did not present a defence, saying they would not participate in the judicial process because the "Doukhobor problem" could not be resolved in the criminal courts.

To the Freedomites' surprise, Judge Cooper handed down suspended sentences, telling Mrs. Astaforoff he would "not sentence (her) to the further pain and indignity of prison." She had spent almost 20 years in prison since 1947, he said, and jailing her again would not solve the longstanding conflicts facing the Doukhobors.

The B.C. Court of Appeal reversed that decision, sentencing Mrs. Berikoff to two years' imprisonment and Mrs. Astaforoff to three.

Mrs. Astaforoff, already shrunken from prolonged fasting before her 1981 court appearance, is now serving that sentence and refusing tube feeding at Matsqui federal prison at Abbotsford, B.C.

Her sister, Lucy Hoodicoff, is one of the Freedomites camping in tents near Castlegar. The tent-camp protest is aimed at bringing Reformed Doukhobor sect leader Stefan Sorokin to testify at B.C. hearings into the Doukhobors that resume today in Castlegar, and to protest against the condition of the imprisoned Freedomites.

Mrs. Hoodicoff said arson has been used as a means of protest. "When the Doukhobors came into Canada (from Russia near the turn of the century) , they didn't come like any other immigrants. They first knocked on the door and asked, 'Could we, with our religion, come and live this way?' We were granted the freedom of religion. "When, after three years, we had to swear the oath of allegiance, our people went against that. That was the start of all the trouble. Because what was promised, they didn't keep their word. "If nothing would have happened, if they didn't force on us, people wouldn't even know about the Doukhobors. We would have been living toil and peaceful life. "When the Government started pushing that on us, backed us up in a corner, that's when our people, and especially with the bombing of our leader (Peter Lordly Verigin, who died in a train explosion in 1924), got upset, and that's when they started with the railroad bombings and the burnings and the schools were burned. That was the only way our people drew attention from the Government and the people." (While most Doukhobors including the large Orthodox sect have been assimilated into Canadian life, some members of the radical Sons of Freedom sect have continued to protest against what they consider the Government's reneging on promises of religious freedom. (Arson has played a part in this protest, although a string of public inquiries over the years has heard a variety of conspiracy theories about who's behind the burnings: from the RCMP and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to deranged religious fanatics within the Sons of Freedom. (Robin Bourne, the B.C. official who heads the current inquiry, has said that orders to bomb and burn property, which has often been that of Orthodox Doukhobors, have involved "a lot of symbolism and mysticism which I couldn't hope to understand.") Mrs. Hoodicoff says her sister, now 69, has completed her "work" (a word used for arson) and now should be free to come home to rest. Mrs. Astaforoff is well known as a healer, she said, and could take on that role and give up setting fires.

If the problem of the fasting women isn't resolved soon, Mrs. Hoodicoff said, she is ready to commit arson so she can join her sister's fast in prison.

Mary Malakoff, an outspoken Freedomite who plays an important role in the continuing hearings about arson among the Doukhobors, said Mrs. Astaforoff "is a person who will lay down her life for everyone. Everyone. She would die first before she would let anyone else suffer." She said that Mrs. Astaforoff had a premonition that saved Mrs. Malakoff's life. In January, 1960, during intense inter-factional disputes among the Doukhobors, three masked men broke into Mrs. Malakoff's home late at night. Mrs. Astaforoff had left the house earlier, but returned, deciding not to leave Mrs. Malakoff alone.

Mrs. Malakoff said the men dragged both women outside, beating them and choking Mrs. Malakoff until she was silent. The men hauled Mrs. Astaforoff by her leg, dragging her over a nail that ripped her back open and bloodied the snow. Mrs. Astaforoff's screams in the winter night alerted a neighbor who scared off the attackers.

Mrs. Malakoff said she is certain Mrs. Astaforoff, an experienced hunger striker, will fast until she dies this time. She ended previous fasts after receiving "messages from God," Mrs. Malakoff said.

The most recent Doukhobor hunger striker to die in jail was Paul Podmorrow, in 1963 in the Agassiz prison after a prolonged fast and force- feeding.

Mrs. Malakoff and Mrs. Hoodicoff intimated that turmoil may erupt again if the Government allows Mrs. Astaforoff to die in prison. The Sons of Freedom appear to condone force-feeding. They say they have pleaded with Mrs. Astaforoff to begin eating, and though they do not like the force- feeding they say they have not made a concerted effort to oppose it.

While they think Mrs. Astaforoff is an innocent martyr to the Doukhobor cause, others, like restaurant manager Harry Voykin, regard her as a criminal. It was at Mr. Voykin's restaurant that Mrs. Astaforoff started the 1981 fire for which she now is in prison.

Mr. Voykin doesn't think jail sentences will do any good, but says that if the convicted arsonists are released their families or the Government should post a $100,000 bond in case they commit arson again.

Since 1947, Mrs. Astaforoff has been convicted 11 times on charges including arson, nudism, obstructing justice, contempt of court and participating in a riot.