vx A SERIES ON THE. DOUKHOBOR PROBLEM IN B.C 3

2—THE JMAEFF STORY ~
Six-year-old twins torn

from family by RCMP

By BERT WHYTE

NELSON, BC.

Twins Joe and Nina Jmaeff, who celebrated their ninth birthday in New Den-
ver last May 20, were illegally torn from the arms of their parents during an RCMP
raid on Krestova in January, 1955, at the tender age of six, and have never been

home since.

In a voice choked with emo-
tion their father, 42-year-old
Tim Jmaeff, a Son of Freedom
Doukhobor, told me the story
of this “kidnapping” . tragedy,
and how he and his wife Anne
have been vainly trying to
regain custody of their chil-
dren for the past two and one-
half years.

“T call it an illegal kidnap-
ping because, even under the
Social Credit -government
rules, which we Freedomites
refuse to recognize, children
must be seven years old before
they can be held under the
Schog] Act and the Child Pro-
tection Act,” said Tim Jmaeff.

“That tragic day will remain
in my memory as long as I

Reunited for a mome™t are members of the Jmaeff family.
Twins have been held at New Denver since 1955, and
were even refused permission to visit home during their
mother’s illness, but the parents were allowed. into the yard

for a brief visit later on.

live. We were eating break-
fast when the knock came on
our door. ‘Come in,’ I said, and
the door opened and two
RCMP officers entered. Point-
ing at little Nina, one said,

‘That girl is of school age —

put her coat on!’

“We explained that Nina
and Joe were twins, just six
years old, too young to be
taken away, and were told
that we could go along to the
Welfare officials in Crescent
Valley and try to prove our
claim.

“On that promise I told the
children not to be frightened,
that daddy would look after
them and would go with them.
But they were crying as their

mother dressed them in warm
clothes for the journey.

“My wife Anne, who is a
Sick woman, did not intend to
gc along. As she prepared the
children, she turned to one
RCMP officer and said, ‘In
your heart and soul, as a
human being, how to you feel
about this job you are doing?’
He looked ashamed and an-
Sswered, ‘Personally, I feel bad
about it — but I have to obey
my orders.’

“Outside, in the snow, our
people had gathered, for an
elder had spread the alarm, I
can’t express how I felt — it
was not like a funeral, for a
funeral is something you ex-
pect and prepare yourself for.
This was like a horrible catas-
trophe — as though an earth-;
quake was swallowing our
children, But I was still con-
fident that the twins would be
released as soon as it was
realised they were only six
years old.

“Then, when I went to get
in the car, an officer stopped
me. “You are not allowed in,’
he said, and pushed the twins
into the car and closed the
door. The frightened children
— like birds in a cage—looked
at me in a way that almost
broke my heart. How could
they understand that I, who
was their father and ruled at
home, had no power here?
They had trusted me to come
with them — I had given
them my word and I had never
broken my~word to them be-
fore — and they couldn’t
understand why I was helpless
before these uniformed strang-
ers.”

Tim Jmaeff broke off his
story and turned his head
away. “Forgive me, Bert, for

- crying like this,” he said. “I’m

as emotional as a woman. I
know I shouldn’t be so weak
—I'm worse than the mothers.”
In a moment he continued:
“I made up my mind to fol-
low the car on foot. The snow
was. two feet deep and as the
car pulled out I started trudg-
ing after, it — walking as in a
dream — my only thought to
talk to the authorities at Cres-
cent Valley and prove that
the twins were under-age and
bring them home to Anne.
“The car had disappeared
from sight but I walked on,
until I met ari elder who said,

% “It broke our hearts every time we stood outside
wire and saw our dear children held inside,” said

Jmaeff. The Jmaeff twins, now nine years old, are sho

at New Denver during a visiting day, stretching out their af

to their parents.

‘Go home, Tim. The children
are gone — they are all gone.
By the time you reach Cres-

“eent Valley there will be no

one there.’

“When I came in the door
my wife cried out, ‘Why aren’t
the children back?’ And when
I explained that they were
gone, she fell across the bed
and sobbed. I began to pray.

“My wife’s health worsened.
She could not get over the loss
of the children. Our good

neighbors helped us out finan- ;

cially, and aftér local medical
attention failed to help her,
I took her to California for
treatment in December of that
year.

“For four months we didn’t
see the children at all. When
we returned home in April,
1956, we resumed visits to New
Denver. It broke our hearts
every time we stood outside
the wire and saw our- dear
children held inside. On April
28 my wife went on a mothers’
delegation to see Emmett Gul-
ley, the Quaker who had taken.
a government job as advisor,
and when he wouldn’t talk
to the mothers they tore his

‘coat off. My wife collapsed on

the street from the excitement
and suffered a relapse, A doc-
tor said, ‘Tim, why did you
bring her on this delegation?
You know she’s ill.” I said, ‘I

didn’t bring her — the peopl
who took our children ‘did.’

“Some 25 of the mothers wa
sentenced to 10 days in J
for disturbing the peace. AD
when a _ protest demonstratio!
was held in Nelson in May ou!
side of Gulley’s house, the fil®
department was called out a
hoses were turned on us
orders of the RCMP. Wome!
fainted, and we had to pi¢
them up and drag them away!
We were marched sevel#)
miles out of town, with the of
ficers at our heels, threatenl#?
us,

“In January; of this year my
wife had, an operation, and se
several months was not wel
enough to visit the twins if
New Denver. We tried to 8
permission to have the cht
dren released for a weeken”
and promised to return the!
to detention on Monday. BY!
though we fulfilled all th®
orders, including the forward’
ing to officials of a letter fro™
the doctor who operated on m™)
wife, permission to have thé
twins come home for a day of
two to see their mother w?
never granted.” :

Tim Jmaeff, a constructio?
worken — he *perates a ‘bull
dozer — took a day off his
job to meet me in Nelson an®

Continued. on page 7
See DOUKHOBORS

July 26, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE