A “Modus Vivendi that was eventually reached” according to E. K. Francis¹ and, a “pattern of peaceful co-existence between Gebietsamt and municipality gradually developed and with it an acceptable modus vivendi” according to Adolf Ens.² This describes the results following an encounter that Johan Friesen³ later recorded as Ältester Johan Wiebe having being summoned to Morden and appearing before a judge with regard to the lack of cooperation on the part of the Manitoba Reinländer Mennoniten Gemeinde members with the provincially imposed municipal government. The church members did not participate in municipal elections and refused to serve as councillors or in any appointed positions. The Gebietsamt tax and financial records were not shared with the elected Council and the turnover of the administrative office in Reinland to Council was opposed.

The defining moment in achieving this “acceptable modus vivendi,” however, appears not to have resulted from court intervention as has been previously thought. What actually occurred was certainly less confrontational. The 3 December 1883 elected (by acclamation) Rhineland Municipal Council,⁴ which had replaced the 1880 provincially appointed Council headed by Isaac Miller as Warden, requested that their Solicitor, John B. McLaren of Morden, should meet with Ältester Johan Wiebe and Obervorsteher Isaac Miller. In response to a letter from McLaren, Wiebe and Miller met with McLaren in his Morden office on 30 November 1886.

There is no mention of a translator having been present at this meeting and Isaac Miller was doubtlessly sufficiently conversant in English, his duties as Obervorsteher having put him in regular contact with government authorities as well as with businessmen in Emerson and Winnipeg. This accord ushered in the period of peaceful co-existence allowing the Rhineland Municipal Council to fulfill their responsibilities while the West Reserve Gebietsamt continued unofficially with theirs.

Just prior to this meeting, McLaren who had until now billed for his individual services, requested of Council to be put on retainer, $50 annually for all his services, but this was declined by Council on 10 November 1886,⁵ hence the $5 fee.

A letter from McLaren reporting back to Rhineland Council is reproduced here:⁶

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J.B. McLaren, M.A.
Barrister
Morden, Man. 30 November, 1886

William Rempel, Esq.
Secty-Treasurer Rhineland Municipality
Reinland

Dear Sir,

Today in answer to my letter, the bishop Mr. Wiebe, accompanied by Mr. Miller, called upon me; and we had a long talk about Municipal Matters and about the petition sent to me by your council. We spent most of the afternoon in discussion. I was not able to convince them that they were wrong in objecting to serve as councilmen or pathmasters; but I think they now understand more clearly the object and nature of the Municipal Act, and that they are inclined to regard it more favourably than before. They say that they will obey the Government and also that they will conform to the Municipal law and pay their taxes and do their road-work without any trouble; and that all the people of their church will do the same; but they do not wish to serve in the council, or as pathmasters or officers of the Council. I suppose there is no objection to allowing them that privilege or exemption. They say that in every village or locality there are plenty of men not of their community, who are willing to serve and act. They have promised not to oppose in any way or hinder the Council in their duties, or any of its officers, or prevent the proper working of the Act.

Yours truly
J.B. McLaren
Fee $5.00

1. E. K. Francis, In Search of Utopia: The Mennonites in Manitoba (Altona: D.W. Friesen, 1955), 95. ↩︎
2. Adolf Ens, Subjects or Citizens? The Mennonite Experience in Canada, 1870-1925 (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1994), 74. ↩︎
3. Ein Reisebericht von Russland nach Amerika anno 1875 herausgegeben vom Aeltesten Johann Wiebe (Cuauhtemoc, Mexico: Libreria Aleman, 1994), 37. ↩︎
4. Ens, 71. ↩︎
5. R. M. of Rhineland November 10, 1886 Council Minutes and January 11, 1887 By-Law No. 34. ↩︎
6. Altona & District Heritage Research Inc, R. M. of Rhineland, Correspondence 1886, Location 14. ↩︎