We talk a lot about the move of people to Canada, but what about those who are left behind? Welcome to the final episode of Still Speaking Season Two, a program of the Mennonite Heritage Archives in Winnipeg.

Conrad Stoesz is an archivist with the MHA and hosts the program. Between 1923 and 1930, 21,000 Mennonites arrived in Canada from the Soviet Union, and throughout this season of Still Speaking, we've been hearing stories about this mass migration.

Anna Peters was born in 1858 and later was wed to Cornelius Reimer, they lived in Russia, where they raised ten children to adulthood. Cornelius died in 1914, just as the difficulties in Russia intensified... war, civil unrest and food shortages became common. Anna Reimer's two youngest children, Catherina Enns and Johann Reimer, immigrated to Canada in 1925 and reestablished their families in Winnipeg and Meadows, Manitoba. The only way for Anna and her children to communicate with Catherine and Johann in Canada was by letter. They wrote about their fields and the good harvests they had in 1926, Anna and her children wrote about their gardens, births and deaths in the community and wondered if they should leave or stay. Enjoy the 13th and final episode of Still Speaking Season Two, “Left Behind”.