Historian reflects on Queen's visit to a Manitoba Hutterite colony
CTV
A Manitoba historian is reflecting on the Queen’s visit to a Hutterite colony during a Royal Tour in the province more than 50 years ago.
A Manitoba historian is reflecting on the Queen’s visit to a Hutterite colony during a Royal Tour in the province more than 50 years ago.
Milltown Hutterite Colony west of Winnipeg played host to Queen Elizabeth II in July 1970.
It’s a visit teacher Ian Kleinsasser, who studies Hutterite history, has been researching.
“The older I got and the more I learned about the Queen and her role in Canada, the more I was puzzled by why would she, of all the cultural groups and places she could’ve stopped, why did she choose to stop at a colony?” Kleinsasser recalled thinking.
He recently put out a call for information in a Hutterite history group in the wake of her death.
He said one of the stories that emerged was about a Hutterite woman from Rainbow Hutterite Colony who knitted two pairs of red mittens for the Queen one year before the visit, sent them to Buckingham Palace and got a letter in return which stated the Queen wanted to visit a Hutterite colony when she visited Manitoba.
“I can’t know for certain if it was the red mittens that brought her there, but what we do know is that she came,” Kleinsasser said. “The Queen came to a Hutterite colony and I think that by itself was an incredible gesture and I think it speaks to her humility.”
