New Religious Movements

  • Maltais founded La Tribu

    In 1973, Maltais founded La Tribu, an ecological group. They later changed their name to Ecoovie.
  • The Group Moved

    The group moved to Paris in 1978 and began to sell natural products.
  • World Wide Tour

    In 1984, the group embarked on a worldwide tour to plant trees and spread their philosophy.
  • Founding Of Religion

    The Iriadamant camp was founded by the French-Canadian Pierre Doris Maltais.
  • They Came To Finland

    The group came to Finland via Sweden after walking from Italy in 1991
  • Granted Residents

    They were granted a residence permit until the end of July 1992. It was reported that the group initially included about 140 people.
  • Finnish Rural Party

    At the end of March 1993, MP Tina Mäkelä of the Finnish Rural Party submitted a written question in the parliament about the residence of the Iriadamant Indians in Finland.
  • Walking Speech

    In the summer of 1993, the group performed a "Walking Speech" across Finland. The Iriadamant spread their philosophy and gathered signatures for a petition showing support for the movement. Overall, 7,000 signatures were accrued and the petition was sent to president Mauno Koivisto.
  • Ending

    The members of the group, of which there were 56 in the final stage, had announced that they would depart the country from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on November 3, 1993. However, they did not appear. In actuality, a busload of passportless Iriadamant drove across the border to Sweden and down to the Netherlands. The group made it as far as Italy before they decided to disband.
  • Death Of the Leader

    In 1993, a Belgian court charged Maltais of, among other things, fraud and embezzlement. He escaped prosecution. He later moved to Nicaragua, where he allegedly died in 2015.