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Hutterite biography to debut despite legal chill

By: Adam Wazny

6/02/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 11

Kelly Hughes

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Kelly Hughes

The Winnipeg unveiling of a controversial book on Hutterite life is going ahead as scheduled, despite the spectre of legal action.

Rebecca Hofer and her daughter Helen will present their book, Removing the Hutterite Kerchief, at Aqua Books at 2 p.m. today.

Store owner Kelly Hughes said he received a phone call from Winnipeg lawyer David Kovnats telling him the Greenwald Hutterite colony had asked him to look over a copy of the book before the reading.

"I told him we didn't have it, that we wouldn't have it until (today)," Hughes said. "At that point, he went on about how the book is potentially libellous and suggested that this is not something that I want to be a part of."

Hughes said he's being put in the middle of a fight between the Hutterite colony and the publisher of the memoir.

"The book is already published," Hughes said. "I think what they are trying to do is stop the reading."

Kovnats takes issue with that claim. Though he would not confirm if the Greenwald colony enlisted him to protect members' interests, the lawyer said he only reached out to Aqua Books to see a copy of the book, not to stop the event.

"The description (of the book) on the Internet is such that we were going to question whether or not the content of the book is correct," Kovnats said. "My words to him were to the effect that I don't want to see people hurt. I would like to see the book before it is disseminated to ensure that there's nothing in it that's actionable."

Removing the Hutterite Kerchief is a biographical story of Rebecca Hofer's experiences moving from an overpopulated colony to start up Greenwald, and the events that led to half the Greenwald Colony deciding to leave in 1966.

The book is available through the Okanagan Institute, an organization that helps artists, including writers, get their work out to the world. Institute director Robert MacDonald was surprised to learn of the situation with Aqua Books and Kovnats, but said the threat of libel always comes up in the case of a biography.

"There always is (that risk) in things like this, but it's based on the memory of one person and the events that happened to her," MacDonald said. "The Hutterites are notorious for being nervous about people revealing the secrets of what goes on."

MacDonald said he has not had any contact with Kovnats or any representative of the Greenwald colony.

As for Hughes, he wasn't too concerned about what might happen if legal action is taken.

"Based on my understanding of the law, it doesn't fall to me," he said.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 6, 2010 A11

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11 Commentscomment icon

Titus

February 7, 2010 at 3:02 PM
To Hagar -
Please learn to spell before posting comments. Bad spelling shows your ignorance before a reader can finish reading, when he would normally realize your foolishness
Hey Titass,
The world is full of critics. you have to stand in line AFTER you pull your head out of your butt! Any one except you of course can make a spelling mistake! The message is still clear despite the spelling!

The reading went off as planned, with a good crowd (that didn't seem to contain any lawyers). Rebecca Hofer is a brave lady who went out on a limb to tell her tale of what happened to her and her family. The only places I know of where the book can be purchased locally are Aqua Books, and from Rebecca's website (rebeccahofer[dot]com).

Kelly Hughes
Aqua Books

To Hagar -
Please learn to spell before posting comments. Bad spelling shows your ignorance before a reader can finish reading, when he would normally realize your foolishness.

hi to all. as a hutterite i would suggest all to know nobody is forced to remain on the colony. If yu don't like it yu have the option to leave. And don't ruin it for those of us who love our home and way of life. Bitterness sure can show it's ugly face. Whoever doesn't realize it in this case doesn't want to. Sure seems obvious to me.Nobody sez colony life is heaven. But where can yu find it on this earth? Yu have ugly moments in all walks of life.I'd like to suggest to the originator of this book to practice forgiveness. Life would be much sweeter. Who never has had experienced wrongs in their life. Such a pity.Cheers to all and to those that slam colony life;please don't comment if yu don't know or see the whole and real story:

Where can we buy it?

So how did it go?


I have a very jaundiced view of any folk who live their lives in a continual state of hipocracy whether they be a Hutterite or any other "religeous" group.

I may check this out. For an even-handed (and wonderfully written) account of both the positives and negatives of colony life, I'd recommend reading 'I Am Hutterite' by Mary-Ann Kirkby.

Definitely never would have even heard about this book if the colony and their lawyer hadn't made a stink about it. Now I'm quite interested in reading it!
Evidently people will never learn...the more you try to stop something from coming out the more people will hear about it and the more they will want to find out more.
Thanks Greenwald Hutterite Colony and Mr. Kovnats! :)

This is a "non-story". Obviously the book reading will continue. I had the book shipped to me and it arrived several days ago. It has been for sale online for weeks. I am sure many Hutterites who are named in the book won't be happy with it. If it is libel, legal action will follow but it certainly is unlikely in my opinion.

This isn't a book about how Hutterites live... it is the recollection of a specific incident at a specific time (many years ago). I married a Hutterite (who left her colony years ago) and we have good relations with her family and go to visit her colony several times a year. It is one of the most friendly places to go.

Hagar: there is no such thing as a typical Hutterite colony. You have colonies where everyone has high speed internet, to colonies where newspapers and magazines are rare. You have colonies that are wealthy, and colonies going bankrupt. You have colonies that won't even speak to each other because of ideological differences.

People need to understand that the word typical just doesn't make sense when talking about cultural group of people that numbers in the tens of thousands and are spread across various provinces and states. Just like there is no typical Catholic, there is no typical Hutterite or Hutterite colony.

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