Memorable Manitobans: Savva Federenko

Exiled revolutionary.

A Russian revolutionary of 1905, he escaped to Winnipeg in mid-July 1910. A few days later he was arrested and charged with murder and arson under the 1886 extradition treaty between Russia and Canada. Various labour and socialist leaders spoke out on his behalf, but he was summarily convicted in a court presided over by Chief Justice Mathers in October 1910. Both the Manitoba Free Press and the Winnipeg Tribune editorialized on his behalf, and at a Walker Theatre rally on 20 November 1910, a non-partisan group which included the Rev. C. W. Gordon (the novelist Ralph Connor) resolved that extradition should be refused if there was a political motive behind Russia’s request for it. On 23 November 1910, a court under Mr. Justice Robson ruled that Federenko’s crime was political. He was eventually given his unconditional release and departed Winnipeg for places unknown.

Source:

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J. M. Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Profile revised: 7 March 2008

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