Grand Forks's large Doukhobor population accounted for much of Taylor's election support. The welcome sign on Highway 3 says the town is "Famous for Borscht and Sunshine," but borscht doesn't begin to cover the Doukhobors' legacy here. For nearly seventy years, until the 1970s, the Doukhobors made up the majority in the valley. At 1,500 members, the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ is the largest Doukhobor community in the world. The name means "Spirit Wrestler"; they are descendants of a Russian pacifist collectivist religious community, the largest self-contained group ever to emigrate en masse to Canada. Their meeting place-Doukhobors don't use the word church- sits surrounded by lush lawns and playing fields just west of town. Beyond it, on Spencer's Hill, just down the lane from Brian Taylor's place, is a house belonging to J.J.Verigin, Sr., honorary chairman of the USCC. (Surveying the view from his porch, Taylor joked, "I call this Messiah Hill. Me and J.J. up here overseeing our domain.")

The Doukhobors still call Verigin's place the Sirotskii Dom, which means "orphanage" in Russian, for traditionally the leader's home has also served as a refuge for community members. It's a large, modern house, totally rebuilt after 1970, when it was set ablaze by members of the Sons of Freedom, a small Doukhobor splinter group made up of radical arsonists and bombers. Verigin, now seventy-six, will pass his final years here in relative comfort. At the moment he's feeling a little less comfortable than usual because the last of the active Freedomite arsonists, two aging ladies named Tina and Pauline still zealously dedicated to torching anything that smacks of Doukhobor worldly wealth, are out on parole from their most recent attempt to burn him out. They had been caught walking up Verigin's lane with matches in their pockets and glass bottles full of gasoline in their hands. When these two retire it'll be the end of an era in the valley.

At the height of Freedomite activity, in 1962, 259 burnings and bombings throughout the Kootenays were attributed to the sect, and that year 1,200 Freedomites migrated in a convoy to Vancouver. They eventually made their way to Agassiz, B.C.,where they built a shantytown outside a special fireproof prison holding 104 Doukhobor arsonists. Freedomite fervour has since subsided; it's now down to Tina and Pauline.

Along with the more sensational acts of a minority, the distinct characteristics of non-violent Doukhobors-always the vast majority- are also disappearing. But their legacy may live on in the form of community support for free thinkers and radical ideas - like Brian Taylor's push to make Grand Forks Canada's Hemp City. Not that hemp was hard to sell to the Doukhobors. J.J.Verigin can recall hemp oil being used for cooking in his youth. "We're very much interested in hemp, and know its good qualities," he said.

J.J. Verigin, Sr., with his wife, Laura Verigin