A number of World War 2 Conscientious Objectors (CO's) from Winkler and Morden will be featured in the upcoming documentary, 'The Last Objectors'.

Director Andrew Wall of Refuge 31 Films based in Winnipeg explains the film tells "the other, other side of the war."

Approximately 11,000 men, three quarters Mennonite, chose to work in forestry camps, hospitals and asylums rather than go to war based on religious beliefs. Others chose to serve as medics rather than frontline fighters.

"It was a range of reasons, some really thought they couldn't kill a fellow human being, and that's why they just could not go," Wall says. "But they still wanted to support the effort."

While he says many CO's express that their views may have changed to varying degrees after the war, none regret the decision.

The film, which pulls on interviews of 15 CO's from across the country, also depicts the challenges CO's faced after returning home.

"Some of them did feel resentment from the general public, they were seen as yellow or draft-dodgers," Wall says. "But overall... all maintained it wasn't a persecution and they were happy to serve, and if people looked at them that way, so be it."

However, he says CO's had to live with more than just name calling. With no savings (many earned just fifty cents a day), no long-term government benefits and no education, many faced challenges when their service ended. Objectors were only allowed to return home a year after the war to give returning veterans first crack at finding employment.

"That was crippling," Wall says. "So the communities had to rally around those families and try to make ends-meet. That is the side that needs to be recognized, that it wasn't fair."

While the Mennonite community has remembered the history of CO's, Wall says the general public in Canada hasn't. With the remaining CO's dwindling in their late 80's and 90's, he says there was an urgency to filming. Since the initial interviews two subjects have passed away.

"The Conscientious Objector story has been quietly almost forgotten," he says. "We need to recognize this, and it's not too late."

The film project was a partnership between Refuge 31 films, the Mennonite Heritage Centre, MTS and CBC. The 44 minute documentary will air on CBC Manitoba August 27, and will be available on-demand at MTS Stories From Home for MTS subscribers.