Mennonites

Mennonites are an ethno-religious people who derive their name from Menno Simons (1496–1561), a former Roman Catholic priest and early Anabaptist leader. At present there are close to one million baptized Mennonites throughout the world. If one were to count unbaptized children and young people as well, as sociologists generally do, this number might be doubled or tripled.

In Canada there are some 200,000 Mennonites, of whom 114,400 are baptized members. They reside primarily in Ontario and in all the western provinces. (See Table 1.) The two largest groups in Canada are the Conference of Mennonites, generally referred to as the General Conference Mennonites (GCs), with 29,000 baptized members, and the Mennonite Brethren (MBs), with some 26,000 baptized members. These two groups comprise about 55 percent of Canada’s Mennonite population. Other groups are the Old Order Mennonites and Amish in Ontario, the Evangelical Mennonite Church (Kleine Gemeinde), the Old Colony Mennonites and Sommerfelder Church, the Chortitzer Mennonite Church, and the Bergthaler Churches in Alberta and Saskatchewan and several others. (See Table 2.) The membership among the smaller groups varies from about 1,000 to 7,000. (See also AMISH; GERMANS; HUTTERITES.)

Source: 1981 and 1991 Canadian censuses Note: Total includes all groups of Mennonites, including non-baptized persons. Hutterites are not included (21,495 in 1991).

Mennonite population in Canada

Province	1981	1991
Newfoundland	-	30
Prince Edward Island	-	20
Nova Scotia	220	560
New Brunswick	180	240
Quebec	1,075	1,655
Ontario	46,485	52,645
Manitoba	63,490	66,000
Saskatchewan	26,265	25,240
Alberta	20,545	22,330
British Columbia	30,895	39,055
Yukon Territory	-	110
Northwest Territories	-	85
Total	189,370	207,970

In theological terms, these groups are quite similar, but in terms of ethnicity or the way they live, there are considerable differences among them. The General Conference Mennonites and the Mennonite Brethren are the most liberal and acculturated among Canadian Mennonites, whereas the Old Order Mennonites, the Old Order Amish, and others are more conservative with regard to dress codes, methods of farming, and “separation from the world.”

Source: The Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5: 123

Mennonite groups in Canada, 1982

Name of group	Members	Congregations
Old Order Amish	725	14
Old Order Mennonites	1,387	10
Waterloo-Markham Conference	935	7
Beachy Amish Church	314	5
Conservative Mennonite Fellowship	95	2
Conservative Mennonite Church of Ontario	325	8
Fellowship Churches	520	14
Midwest Fellowship	263	4
Other Conservative Groups	376	10
Northern Light Gospel Missions	287	21
Reformed Mennonites	162	2
Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec	5,292	42
Western Ontario Mennonite Conference	3,111	16
Northwest Mennonite Conference	1,000	17
Chortitzer Mennonite Conference	2,300	11
Sommerfelder Church of Manitoba	4,000	14
Other Sommerfelder Groups	1,675	5
Bergthaler Churches in Saskatchewan	1,002	6
Reinlaender Mennonite Church	800	6
Old Colony Mennonite Church	4,500	18
Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference	2,658	23
Evangelical Mennonite Conference	5,000	45
Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Conference	1,935	17
Church of God in Christ, Mennonite	2,500	30
Conference of Mennonites in Canada	28,152	147
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches	23,248	157
Total	91,646	638

Mennonites are both an ethnic group and a religious denomination. There is, however, still ambiguity and controversy among Mennonites about this issue, with some insisting that they are simply a religious group, while others arguing that they form a distinct ethnic group. Increasingly historians and sociologists treat Mennonites as an ethno-religious group, and the Canadian federal and provincial governments regard them as people distinct from others living in this country.