The religious movement known as the Doukhobors was oppressed and circumscribed in Russia where it first developed; when its members were eventually allowed to leave what country welcomed them?
Doukhobors villages in other parts of Georgia. Many died of starvation and exposure. The resistance of the Doukhobors gained international attention and the Empire was criticized for its treatment of this religious minority. In 1897 the Russian government agreed to let the Doukhobors leave the country, subject to a number of conditions: Some of the emigrants went first to Cyprus, which could not sustain a large migration. Soon Canada offered more land, transportation, and aid to resettle in the Saskatchewan area. Around 6,000 emigrated there in the first half of 1899, settling on land granted to them by the government in
Doukhobors was to mock them as heretics fighting "against" the Holy Spirit (, "Svyatoy Dukh"); but later on (around the beginning of the 19th century, according to SA Inikova) the dissenters picked the name, usually in a shorter form, "Doukhobory" (, "Dukhobory"), implying that they are fighting not "against", but "along with" the Spirit. As pacifists, the Doukhobors also ardently rejected the institutions of militarism and wars. For these reasons, the Doukhobors were harshly oppressed in Imperial Russia. Both the tsarist state and church authorities were involved in the persecution of these dissidents, as well as taking away their normal freedoms.