While southern Alberta's mainstream society initially reacted adversely to Mormon immigrants, the early atmosphere of fear and suspicion rapidly subsided. Three other religious minorities – Doukhobors, Mennonites, and Hutterites – found mainstream acceptance in southern Alberta more elusive. Russian-speaking Doukhobors from British Columbia began settling in Lundbreck and Cowley, east of the Crow's Nest Pass, in 1916. German-speaking Hutterites from South Dakota established six colonies in southern Alberta in 1918, by which time the region was also home to around 1,500 Mennonites living in scattered communities across southern Alberta.

The three groups, whom the press and general public continually confused, attracted public disfavour, particularly during and immediately after World War I. As pacifists, the three groups were exempt from military duty. In the confused public mind, moreover, they all spoke German and lived in suspiciously isolated communal settlements. Church groups, service clubs, veterans' associations, and politicians questioned both their loyalty and their opposition to private ownership. Ironically, many venomous anti-Hutterite attacks appearing in the regional press were directed against southern Alberta's Mennonite community.

In June 1919, a federal Order-in-Council barred further Hutterite immigration to Canada due to their "... undesirable ... customs, habits, modes of living, and [communal] methods of holding property, and because of their probable inability to become assimilated." The Order was rescinded in 1922, but the underlying animosities that prompted passage of the Order resurfaced during World War II.

Doukhobors
 
 

Hutterite Girls
 
 

Mennonite Women
 
All images courtesy of the 
National Archives of Canada