Timeline

1720-1740
Heretical leaders associated with what would be identified as Doukhoborism emerge in southern Russia.

1785
Archbishop Slavenski Nikifor of Ekaterinoslov province in southern Russia coins the phrase “Dukho-borets” or “Spirit Wrestlers” to refer to those considered to be heretics.

1802
Tsar Alexander I decrees that religious dissenters be isolated. Doukhobors are forcibly relocated to the northern shore of the Black Sea, known to them as the “Milky Waters.” Left on their own in the Milky Waters, they thrive.

1825-1855
Under the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, severe persecution of the Doukhobors resumes. In 1841, they are forced to move from the Milky Waters east to the Caucasus region of southern Russia, bordering Turkey.

1859
June 29: Peter Vasilievich Verigin born in Slavianka, in the Caucasus area of Russia (now Azerbaijan).

1864
On the death of her husband, Lukeria Kalmykova becomes Doukhobor leader. The next two decades are a golden age for the Doukhobors in Russia.

1879
Verigin marries, a marriage annulled about 1881 by Lukeria Kalmykova, who takes Verigin into her household, to train for leadership.

1886
December 15: Lukeria Kalmykova dies, childless. A succession struggle breaks out. Peter Verigin emerges as the choice of the majority of the Doukhobors (the “Large Party”). But Lukeria’s brothers convince Tsarist officials that Verigin represents a menace to the Russian state. He is arrested and banished to northern Russia.

1887-1902
Peter Verigin lives in exile in various parts of northern Russia and Siberia.

1895
June 29: On Verigin’s birthday, Doukhobors of the “Large Party” gather up all their firearms and burn them. The new tsar, Nicholas II, responds with heightened persecution.

1895
October: Russian novelist and pacifist Leo Tolstoy and others begin a campaign to alert the world to the plight of the Doukhobors. Quakers in Britain and North America take up the Doukhobor cause. Professor James Mavor of the University of Toronto contacts the Canadian government on behalf of the Doukhobors. In the next three years the terms of their migration are arranged and the lands they will occupy in the Canadian west are identified.

1898
December 5: A Government of Canada order in council exempts the Doukhobors from military service, clearing the way for them to migrate to Canada.

1899
January 20: The SS. Lake Huron arrives in Halifax, bringing the first of 7500 Doukhobors to Canada.

1901
January: With Verigin still in Russia, the Doukhobor community in the North West Territories (as of 1905, Saskatchewan) struggles to deal with the dilemma of how to live in this new land. As many as one thousand opt to acquire land under the homestead system. They abandon the Doukhobor commune and become known as Independent Doukhobors. The Canadian government advises the Communal Doukhobors that each family must register individually for its 160-acre plot of land, following Dominion Lands Act regulations.

1902
October: Responding to rumors that Verigin is making his way to Canada, 1700 Doukhobors set out to “meet Christ,” tramping over a prairie landscape that is rapidly descending into winter. With great difficulty, the North West Mounted Police corral them and put them on trains back to their settlements.

December 18: Peter Verigin arrives in Canada after 15 years in exile in Russia. Within a short time he begins a relationship with Anna Holubova that will last until his death.

1903
May: 52 Nude Doukhobors parade from village to village attempting to convince their fellows to shun modernization. Outside of the town of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, they are stopped, forcibly dressed and jailed. A small section of this group burns part of a piece of agricultural equipment owned by the Doukhobor commune. Verigin presses charges against them and has them sent to jail. The svododniki, also known as the Sons of Freedom or Freedomite movement among the Doukhobors, is born.

1905–1906
Peter V. Verigin’s divorced wife, Evdokia Grigorevna, and estranged son, Peter Petrovich Verigin, make two brief visits Canada from Russia. His son causes considerable friction and is finally ordered to return to Russia by his father.

1906
August to December: the first government commission of inquiry into the Doukhobors, led by the Reverend John McDougall, concludes that the Doukhobors’ communal land-holding practice is a barrier to their proper integration into Canadian society.

1906–1907
October to February: In the midst of the crisis over land ownership, Verigin leaves for Russia, claiming he is investigating a possible mass return to Russia. Nothing comes of the venture, but Verigin is absent when the Canadian government seizes substantial parts of the land reserved for Doukhobors.

1907
July: Land that has been taken from the Doukhobors is opened to settlement by others, causing an unprecedented land rush in Saskatchewan. Of the 313,000 hectares of land allocated to the Community Doukhobors, they retain only 50,000 hectares. Independent Doukhobors (not in the communal system) and other homesteaders claim the balance.

1908
Seeking to establish a new base for his commune, Verigin visits the Kootenay and Boundary districts of southeastern British Columbia. He purchases over 6000 hectares of land. By buying land, the community is exempt from government laws and regulations such as the need to take the oath of allegiance to the crown stipulated by the Dominion Lands Act.

1908–1913
Over five thousand Community Doukhobors move from Saskatchewan and establish the “second Commune.” Ninety communal villages take root in B.C., complete with orchards, sawmills and the famous Brilliant Jam Factory.

1912
Responding to the growing popular suspicion of these communistic foreigners, the government of British Columbia appoints a commission to investigate the Doukhobors, led by William Blakemore. Blakemore observes that the Doukhobors have been beneficial in helping to develop the Boundary and Kootenay districts between Grand Forks and Nelson. But he also records considerable opposition from neighboring residents. He suggests that the Canadian government end Doukhobors’ exemption from military service and identifies Peter Verigin as the key barrier to assimilating them.

1913
Among the improvements to the southeastern B.C. region completed by the Doukhobors is the Brilliant suspension bridge over the Kootenay River near Brilliant. Doukhobors would argue that they never received proper compensation from the B.C. government for this project, like much other public work they did that added to the province’s wealth.

1914
March: the British Columbia legislature passes the Community Regulations Act. It requires the Doukhobor community to register births, deaths and marriages and also to send children to public schools. Contravening the act may lead to the government seizing the community’s goods, a form of collective punishment that was motivated by the popular belief that Verigin and the community leaders were responsible for the Doukhobor children’s non-attendance at school.
August: following the British declaration of war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, Canada is also at war. Suspicion of “dangerous foreigners,” already present in the pre-war years, grows. Doukhobors are exempt from military service. Verigin tells the Canadian government that Independent Doukhobors, who have left the commune, do not deserve military service exemption.

1916
Verigin’s dom, or community home, at Otradno in Saskatchewan is burned to the ground. Several svobodniki are arrested and jailed for the arson.

1917
Verigin and 13 other members of the Doukhobor elite incorporate the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood Limited (CCUB), with capital of $1 million and 5,800 members and Verigin as president. The CCUB holds land in the three western provinces, as well as factories, sawmills and other operations.
March: the tsarist regime in Russia collapses under the weight of the First World War and social unrest. A provisional government is formed that decides to continue the war.
November: the provisional government is ousted by a Bolshevik insurrection led by V.I. Lenin. In the following year, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR, is created.

1919
Reflecting antagonism to pacifists after the end of the war, the BC government bars Doukhobors and other conscientious objectors from voting. The government of Canada prohibits the immigration of Doukhobors, Hutterites and Mennonites. (Repealed for Hutterites and Mennonites in 1921, for Doukhobors in 1926, although almost no Doukhobors arrive in Canada after 1899.)

1922
After several years of complying with the law requiring school attendance, Doukhobor parents begin to withdraw their children from schools in the Boundary and Kootenay districts of B.C. In December eight parents are fined. They pay after police move to seize community property in lieu of payment.
Source:
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/verigin/context/timeline/indexen.html