Fall 2022 issue of Bahá’í Canada
In its 30 December 2021 message, the Universal House of Justice explained that building a society that works for the betterment of the world “means learning how to raise up vibrant, outward-looking communities; it means those communities learning how to bring about spiritual and material progress; it means learning how to contribute to the discourses that influence the direction of that progress…” It continues, “Together, they are means of releasing what the Guardian described as ‘the society-building power’ of the Faith.”
As the title of this issue suggests, in the pages of Bahá’í Canada and on the website, we aspire to share stories that touch on all these areas of endeavour and hope to contribute to an ongoing understanding of what the House of Justice has called on us to do and be.
“This inherent power,” the House of Justice wrote, “possessed by the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is visible even in the fledgling efforts of a Bahá’í community learning to serve humanity and promote the Word of God.”[i]
This year’s National Convention, the first to take place in three years, was a significant occasion for consultation on the progress of the Bahá’í Faith in Canada and the imperatives of the Nine Year Plan.[ii] For this issue, the National Assembly has contributed written responses to the collective recommendations put forward by the assembled delegates. These can help bring the deliberations of this institution closer to the hearts and minds of the friends.
International and home front pioneering has come to the fore during the current Plan, as the House of Justice has called for the emergence of at least one milestone three cluster in every country and region in the world. In this issue, we have included excerpts from a booklet about Marion Jack, lauded by the Guardian as an “immortal heroine” and “shining example to pioneers.” She lived in Bulgaria for 23 years as a pioneer, where she was laid to rest. Canada has recently been called to continue this legacy, Bulgaria being one among 14 countries identified as pioneering destinations for Canada.[iii]
On the Bahá’í Canada website, there are two stories contributed by the newly-formed pioneering task forces in British Columbia and Ontario about the first orientations that have taken place in Canada for those interested in contributing to the pioneering goals. A shift in thinking about pioneering—from an individual activity to a collective enterprise that calls for the worldwide dissemination of insights—is described.
The feature articles for this issue focus on several of the global conferences that occurred across the country. These stories illustrate how the conferences punctuated many years of labour in these communities and extended a conversation with the Universal House of Justice to as many friends as possible.
In Uashat mak Mani-utenam, an Innu community adjacent to the city of Sept-Îles, Que., the friends reflected on the conference in the context of 20 years of endeavour alongside Indigenous peoples. In the Atlantic provinces, the momentum from the conferences was swiftly channeled into a Book 1 seminar with youth, which nurtured “the inmost longing of every heart to commune with its Maker.”[iv] In Brampton, Ont., part of the conference took the form of a “mela,” a common tradition in the neighbourhood among South Asians, which roughly translates to community festival.
And in Grand Forks, a small cluster in British Columbia with a handful of Bahá’ís, all of whom are seniors, seeming limitations were overcome as the friends drew on decades-long relationships with the Doukhobor and Indigenous populations to host a conference with over 70 participants.
An article about the two-stage election process recently initiated in Ottawa and Toronto, previously published online, also appears in this issue with the addition of further thoughts. It includes contributions from the Local Spiritual Assemblies of these localities, and details how the first elections took place in this manner.
Also in this issue is an article about a nationwide process initiated by the Board of Trustees of Huqúqu’lláh in Canada. This institution has guided the creation of a ‘Wills’ workshop, to facilitate understanding of the spiritual significance of writing a will, and how to make provisions for the final payment of the Right of God in one’s will.
In centres of intense activity with an established pattern around expansion and consolidation, social action initiatives have been taking shape. In the article, “Providing education: the signature contribution,” examples of how barriers to education are addressed in Burnaby, B.C., Hamilton, Ont. and Toronto, Ont. illustrate glimpses of the society-building power of the Faith.
[i] From the Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, 30 December 2021.
[ii] For coverage of the 72nd National Convention, visit the Bahá’í Canada website www.bahaicanada.bahai.ca
[iii] This was stated in a message dated 7 July 2022 from the National Spiritual Assembly to the Bahá’ís of Canada.
[iv] From the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the World, Ridván 2008.
