Winter camps promote spiritual education across Canada

In Canada, during the weeks of the winter break, communities across the country held camps and day-long gatherings focused on spiritual education. These included intensive spaces for all members of the community—children, junior youth, youth and parents—to advance in their studies, reflect together, and plan for the months ahead. The following article features photos and accounts from a small sample of these spaces, providing a glimpse at this movement across the country.

Arbor Glen (Toronto, Ont.)

The Arbor Glen neighbourhood in Toronto, Ont., held several gatherings, which included one with parents in a home where junior youth presented speeches about Walking the Straight Path and Glimmerings of Hope, two junior youth texts that they had finished studying with their group.

On Jan. 7, they held a community gathering where the various activities of the neighbourhood, including children’s classes, junior youth groups and study circles presented their learnings from their studies and shared related arts they had prepared for the gathering.

The families also made plans to expand these activities. A study circle of 15-year-old participants made plans to begin a devotional gathering.

Working with distinct populations (Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto)

Several friends in Toronto and Ottawa, Ont. who are learning about working with a distinct population in their communities travelled to Montreal, Que. to learn from their experience with working alongside the same population.

Côte-des-Neiges (Montreal, Quebec)

A sleepaway institute camp for youth in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood occurred from Jan. 2-5 in the town of Île-Perrot, Que. The camp was part of a regular pattern of action in this neighbourhood, being the seventh sleepaway camp that the eldest cohort of youth has attended! During the camp, the youth advanced in their study of one of the first five books in the Ruhi sequence. There were 25 youth in attendance and many shared that the spirit of friendship created a united and joyful environment.

Sylvan Lake Bahá’í Centre (Alberta)

In total, 65 youth from Alberta and Saskatchewan participated in a youth conference held at the Sylvan Lake Bahá’í Centre. They studied the 2013 Youth Conference statements with particular focus on the theme about the period of youth. Drawing on the power of consultation and the arts, they delved into concepts related to their response as young people to the needs of society.

They were particularly inspired by the following words of the Universal House of Justice, contained in its 18 January 2019 message to the Bahá’ís of the World: “The distressing state of the world can only spur us to redouble our commitment to constructive action.”

Following their study, the youth made exciting plans for their clusters. Their vision is to embrace an increasing number of souls in the community building process across the region. They also aim to advance the understanding of their communities around the concepts of coherence and walking a path of service.

Prince Edward Island, Fredericton (New Brunswick), and Amherst (Nova Scotia)

An institute camp held in Pugwash, N.S., brought together participants from P.E.I., Fredericton, N.B., and Amherst, N.S., to study Spirit of Faith, the 2013 youth conference materials, and Ruhi Books 2 and 3.

Complementary activities included wood burning to make clapsticks[i], singing, music making, hiking in the woods, and braving a Jan. 1 polar bear dip in the Northumberland Strait. The wood burning was very engaging, and because the materials were left out on the table during the whole weekend, people went back to it again and again.

Regarding the environment of the camp, one participant commented, “The atmosphere was disciplined and everyone was engaged. This helped me to be engaged and gain the capacity to focus.”

Another participant was thankful to have gained skills to apply in conversations with others around specific concepts. They shared, “I learned how to have conversations with people about God.”

Another participant spoke about the rectitude of conduct that participants upheld at the camp, and also about the benefit of the arts in the space, saying, “It was better than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be noisy and crowded and that people would stay up late, but everyone was considerate of others. The arts definitely brought a different kind of spirit.”

The art activities inspired a spirit of excellence and perseverance in participants. About this, one participant shared, “We did the arts for three days…It was only supposed to be for one day, but everyone was waiting for lunch break or other breaks so they could work on it,” they commented.

Flour Mill (Sudbury, Ontario)

The Flour Mill neighbourhood in the Sudbury-Manitoulin-Parry Sound West cluster in Northern Ontario had a youth institute camp from Jan. 3-7. At this camp, 34 attendees spread out within five study circles: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, and Book 6. A new tutor arose to facilitate the study of Book 1.

The Book 6 cohort shared learning from their book around the sacred duty of teaching with the rest of the camp participants, and in relation to this, they spoke about the culture of home visits that is growing in the neighbourhood.

Overall, the camp was filled with study of the texts, outdoor activities in the snow, indoor board games, and collective devotions, which were characterized by joyous singing. It was clear that throughout the course of the camp, bonds of true friendship were being built all around.

Upper Don Mills (Toronto, Ontario)

The Upper Don Mills neighbourhood held its youth camp at the Bethany Bahá’í Centre of Learning, in Bethany, Ont., from Dec. 27-29. The youth spent time advancing through their studies of Ruhi Books 1, 2 and 4.

The neighbourhood held its junior youth camp at the Don Valley Educational Centre from Jan. 3-5. The junior youth studied lessons from the text Walking the Straight Path. A few young animators planned a scavenger hunt for the junior youth to find and put together words from quotations in their text.

A friend from outside the cluster with a candle-making business visited the camp to guide the junior youth in making their own scented candles.

Ottawa (Ontario)

A children’s camp was held in Ottawa on Dec. 26. This was the third day camp the cluster has hosted since October 2023 and the plan is to continue to have these day camps on a monthly basis. A total of 22 children participated and 14 individuals served at the camp, with eight youth being children’s class teachers, four other youth volunteering alongside them, and two parents volunteering in other ways. There were three grades of children’s class materials being taught simultaneously. The teachers also planned devotions, music and visual arts, as well as cooperative projects and games as part of the camp activities.

Tillicum, Hillside-Qaudra, Harewood and Berkee’s Corner (Southeast Victoria, Mid-Island, and Cowichan, British Columbia)

Three clusters in British Columbia came together for a youth institute camp that took place from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4 in Victoria, B.C.

Predominantly between the ages of 15 to 18, the 19 participants came throughout the week to study youth conference materials, and Ruhi Books 1, 3 and 7.

Many of the participants are graduates of the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme. The participants expressed gratitude for the profound conversations they had with each other, and for their deepening bonds of friendship. They also said that the study helped them grow love for the Bahá’í Writings.

Throughout the camp, they had a chance to practice what they were learning. They had opportunities to host devotionals, teach a children’s class and facilitate study circles. They also made plans for after the camp for further study and action in their communities.

One tutor comments, “We witnessed many signs of transformation, such as through their eagerness to serve and their ability to articulate spiritual concepts.”

The camp included time in the evenings for the youth to creatively express their understanding of concepts they were studying about through visual arts, music and filmmaking.

Winnipeg (Manitoba)

From Jan. 2 to Jan. 5, a youth training camp was held that united dedicated youth serving as junior youth animators and children’s class teachers from three centres of intense activity in Winnipeg.

The camp was arranged as a collaborative effort between the Regional Institute Board of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Winnipeg, teams serving in three centers of intense activity (Fort Garry South, Windsor Park, and Central Park), and many generous community members across the Winnipeg cluster.

Gathered beyond the city limits of Winnipeg in the form of a stay away camp, 26 high school-aged youth engaged in three immersive days of study and reflection. It was a time filled with focused learning, prayerful spirit, joyous connections and creativity.

Before the camp, tutors from the three centers of intense activity consulted and discovered that while the youth in each neighbourhood are dedicated to serving the younger generation in their neighbourhoods, there exists a crucial need to start or continue to engage in the institute courses. The hopeful outcome of the camp is to strengthen the quality of the community-building endeavours.

When prompted to share about their experience at the camp, the participants commented on their advancing understanding around concepts related to the period of youth and their twofold moral purpose.

Related to this, one commented, “I learned the concept of false choices which are choices that you don’t have to make but believe you do. Many of my friends also want to become animators but they always say doing that would affect their studies. Having learned this now, I will go back and explain the concept of false choices. I also learned about twofold moral purpose which is helping others which in return helps build you as a person.”

Another said, “This training has grown my knowledge in the importance of prayer. I also learned about twofold purposes and how to achieve a coherent life. Spiritually, I felt more connected to God from the morning prayers and songs.”

And another shared, “This training had made me learn many new words and the way it helped me spiritually is it made me realize there is way more to life.”

Hillsborough (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)

The Hillsborough neighbourhood team held a four-day junior youth camp from Jan. 3-6 with 18 junior youth participating. There were three groups, each studying a different text: Wellspring of Joy, Observation and Insight and Drawing on the Power of the Word.

Complementary activities included playing games outside, making punched tin lanterns, and selling hot chocolate and cookies to raise money to buy a ping pong table for the neighbourhood centre.

Mornelle (Toronto, Ontario)

From Jan. 3-5, the Mornelle neighbourhood held a youth and junior youth camp. The youth studied Ruhi Books 1 and 2, and the junior youth studied the text The Human Temple. For their field trip, the two camps went skating together at a local skating rink.

The youth got to know each other through activities at the beginning of the camp and during breaks. As a crafts activity, the junior youth decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles.

[i] A clapstick is an instrument used to keep rhythm during chants in some Indigenous Australian cultures. See more information at: https://library.unimelb.edu.au/asc/teaching-and-learning/objects/clapsticks