Message from the National Spiritual Assembly regarding National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
28 September 2022 / 2 Will 179
All Local Spiritual Assemblies
All Regional Bahá’í Councils
All Registered Groups
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
Last year on 30 September, the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, an annual statutory holiday that honours the children, families and communities affected by the painful legacy of residential schools, was commemorated in Canada. At that time, the National Spiritual Assembly wrote to the friends to urge them to continue to educate themselves and to build on the wave of prayers that had surged in response to the awakening of so many to this tragic history and its continuing effects.
We hope that again this year, the friends will continue to build on these efforts in a mode of learning, whether through special devotional gatherings, joining public commemorations, setting aside time for study and contemplation or reaching out for conversation. We are attaching a list of resources that are among many publicly available, including a number of thought pieces and submissions on the Bahá’í Community of Canada’s Office of Public Affairs website, as well as the video “The Path Home” commissioned by the National Spiritual Assembly in 2015.
Dear friends, we pray that this opportunity to humbly grow in understanding of our past will be seized by the friends across the country. We would welcome hearing the many ways the friends have participated in or created spaces for this noble purpose.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF CANADA
Karen McKye, Secretary