Alberta: Milad Asdaghi, Nazila Ghasemi, Tony Liu, Shamim Mehrabkhani, and Sina Misaghian
The Atlantic Provinces: Ryan Brennan, Kristi Petro, Hedda Schuurman, Gnei (Kumala) Sobhani, and Kelley Wright
British Columbia:
Charlene Antinuk, Jason Burtwistle, Tabasom Eblaghie, Nabet Fani, Neil MacMillan, Chohre Rassekh, Alaleh Rohani, Pegah Seisan, and Cindy Snedden
Ontario:
Sonya Appadoo, Tyrone Davids, Livia Dittmer, Jeff Hamilton-Bachiu, Jane Hoy, Pejman Mosleh, Roya Mostaghim-Vaezi, Todd Smith, and Melanie Vafaie
Quebec:
Josée Cardinal, Dave Courtemanche, Gregory Fortin-Vidah, Mitra Javanmardi, Nabil Nakhostine, Ilya Shodjaee-Zrudlo, Leyla Shodjai, Anne Skeaff and Laurie Zrudlo
Saskatchewan and Manitoba:
Sandra Agahi, Sally Greenough, Ward Johnston, Payam Towfigh, and Joanne Yeo

Longtime members Elizabeth Wright and Deloria Bighorn retired from service on the National Assembly. Deloria Bighorn was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada in 2009, and has served as the Chair of that institution from 2012 to 2023. [Bahá'í Canada 24 February 2023]

She had earned a medical degree at the age of 52 and practiced as a family and palliative-care physician.

In 1984 she became active in the nuclear disarmament movement and a member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada and co-wrote a book, Enough Blood Shed: 101 Solutions to Violence, Terror and War.

Awards she received over the years include the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal from the Governor General, the Gandhi Prize, the Award of Excellence from Doctors of B.C. and, with Down, the 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. [Condolences; Times Colonist 18 December 2022]

In addition, the National Assembly is pleased to convey the results of the election of its officers: Chair – Deloria Bighorn; Vice-chair – Ciprian Jauca; Treasurer – Mehran Anvari; Secretary – Karen McKye. [Bahá'í Canada 3 May 2022

The inspirational story of Richard St. Barbe Baker, aka the "Man of the Trees," The heritage documentary The Legacy of Saskatoon's Secret Forest tells the story of his remarkable life and achievements. Note there is a 15 minute version heritage documentary and a one hour long presentation with greetings from around the world. The 15 minute prequel film "Richard St. Barbe Baker Park" tells how the heritage documentary came to be. From roots in Saskatoon he went on to inspire tree planting and forest protection around the world. The International Tree Foundation, which he founded in 1922, is still active in 14 countries. Countless people motivated by him are environmental champions today. A companion curriculum describes his holistic world view, and his daring life of action on behalf of the earth.

From Saskatoon Star Phoenix
18 August 2021
thestarphoenix.remembering.ca/obituary/bruce-filson-1083051604:

The beloved soul of Bruce Kenneth Filson winged its flight from this earthly plane on August 13, 2021. Bruce, aged 68, was surrounded by family after fighting a sudden battle with aggressive cancer and associated complications. Dear father, husband, brother, son, and community member, Bruce "contained multitudes." His joie de vivre and the ever-present twinkle in his eye will not be quickly forgotten.

Born in 1952 in Saskatoon, Bruce was raised initially on a farm and then in the city. During his high school years at Evan Hardy Collegiate, he was elected co-leader of the student council and played football for the Hardy Souls, helping take the team to the provincial championship game. He remained a lifelong sports fan, following football, baseball, World Cup soccer, and Olympic and other sports, and he played golf into his final year.

Though he and his wife, Margaret Bremner, grew up mere blocks from one another and attended the same high school at the same time, they only truly met as undergraduate students when each joined the Bahá'í Faith. They married in 1978 and raised three daughters together (as well as a dog, two cats, three rabbits, and who knows how many fish).

Bruce studied French at the U of S and later earned a master's degree in Comparative Literature from Carleton University and a Bachelor of Education degree from the Université du Quebec à Rimouski. He was a language lover and gained skill with English, French, German, and Mandarin. In order to serve the needs of the international Bahá'í community and for his own edification he left Saskatchewan after university and moved to Rimouski, QC, then Montreal, and then the Ottawa area. He later left Canada for periods of time, living and working in China and Dominica. In his final years he had moved to Surrey, BC, to be nearer children and grandchildren.

Bruce had a diverse and colourful vocational life which, though it met with little financial success, was fulfilling and rich in every other respect. For a number of years, in Canada and in China, he taught high school and college-level English and French. But he also worked variously throughout the years as a writer, publisher, translator, salesman, and civil servant. He was a newspaperman in the perpetual year of 1886 at Upper Canada Village, a living history site in Ontario. In the early 1990s he co-founded and ran Nine Pines Publishing, remembered for its contributions to Bahá'í literature (notable works published include The Psychology of Spirituality by Dr. H.B. Danesh; Fires in Many Hearts, the memoir of Doris McKay; and poetry and prose by long-time Bahá'í pioneer to the Magdalen Islands, Larry Rowdon). Later he co-founded and founded small presses September House and September Pines as well. B.K. Filson was himself also a poet: his work was published in various journals and in two volumes (Angel Ruckus and Parallelograms); he led workshops and gave readings; and he was an active member of writers' groups in Ottawa, ON and Surrey, BC. He won an award for Excellence in Bahá'í Studies: Creative Writing from the Association of Bahá'í Studies and gave a reading of one of his long poems at an annual ABS conference.

More recently he was delighted and proud to have opened and owned King Me Boardgamery and Café in Saskatoon and, still more recently, run the online game shop Mr. Dice Guy. His fondness for tabletop games and good coffee, his commitment to building community, his desire to provide a gathering space for friends young and old, and his love of teaching and learning combined with his friendly demeanour meant that the establishment in 2017 and success of King Me constituted a professional and personal dream achieved.

Bruce's life as a Bahá'í, his dedicated service to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, was a hallmark and a guiding light to others. He joined the Faith in 1971 and travelled to Quebec, China, and Dominica to assist the Faith. He served as an elected member of Spiritual Assemblies in Rimouski, Montréal, Hull (now Gatineau), Osgoode (now amalgamated into Ottawa), and Saskatoon. He sometimes served as a delegate to the Bahá'í National Convention, once alongside his brother Gerald. He and Margaret also served as custodians of the Bahá'í Shrine in Montréal for five years, receiving Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih Khánum in their suite during her visits to Canada.

Bruce is survived by his wife of 43 years, Margaret Bremner, brothers Glen (Luisa) and Gerald (Judy) and sister Mary Jane (Shane English), daughters Chloë (Robin Wilson), Lydia (Gregory Coles), and Veronica (Shahruz Moshtael), granddaughters Gavia, Ida, and Fern, and a baby grandson soon to arrive. He was predeceased by his eldest brother Robert in 2011.

Interrment and a memorial program will take place at 1 p.m. (PST; arrive at 12:45) on Friday, August 20 at Valley View Memorial Gardens in Surrey, BC. The program will be live-streamed for far-away mourners.

Published on August 18, 2021

The Continental Board of Counsellors appointed the following 26 Auxiliary Board members to serve in Canada. Those serving on the Propagation Board:

Mert Ozyonum, Atlantic Provinces
Betty Dai, Anthony Jjumba, Shawyun Refahi and Anisa Skuce-Newell in British Columbia
Lita Cameron, Elisa Cooper, Neda Farahmandpour, Caitlin Moore in Ontario
Maëlle Turbide in Québec
Dagmawit E. Habtemariam in Saskatchewan-Manitoba
Drew Erickson in Alberta

Alanna Robertson Vreeland in the Atlantic Provinces
Agazzi Abay Tsehaye, Nabih Ardekany, Navid Jaberi, Lori Mason in British Columbia
Ravin Appadoo, Rebecca Hamilton-Bachiu, Justin Kianfar, Bronwyn Naylor and Golbon Singh in Ontario
Mona Pirmoradi in Québec
Anis Sabet in Saskatchewan-Manitoba
Karolina Drabik and Shabnam Shakibaei in Alberta

The Counsellors expressed their love and gratitude to these distinguished friends who have served so faithfully and sacrificially and who will be relieved of this service as of 1 July 2021. They were: Sara Chesley, Sohayl Ghadirian, Alaleh Rohani, Robert M. Ngunjiri, Rhona Scoffield, Sophie Turbide, Stacey-Michelle Tekye, and Tahirih North. [Letter from the National Assembly to the Canadian community dated 16 June 2021 S113255]

Canadian Council of Imams is an organization of religious leadership of Imams (Sunni and Shi'ia), representing the Islamic Community in Canada. [Office of Public Information]

   After leaving a career in market development in the federal tourism agency that included postings in Sydney, Australia and St. John's, Newfoundland, Marlene served in the community development department of the Bahá'í National Centre in Thornhill, Ontario. Back in St. Marys, she devoted her life to working at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, travelling and writing. She loved working as a Festival usher and, more recently, as a volunteer tour guide. Many of her trips involved Bahá'í service projects in destinations such as Cyprus, Ireland and Western Samoa and some quirky journeys such as travelling on a cargo ship from New York City to Chile and back.

   Marlene authored two biographies, Take My Love to the Friends: The Story of Laura R. Davis and Faithful Friends: Founding the Toronto Bahá'í Community 1919–1938, one play named Tabreez, several dramatic readings and essays and a dozen essays on Shakespeare plays. Joining a group of writers at the Desert Rose Bahá'í Institute in Arizona for annual winter gatherings, she co-founded the "Write Life", an annual writers' retreat, serving as a co-facilitator for two years. Marlene was named the first Writer in Residence at Desert Rose.

   For a list of Marlen's Dramatic Readings see Bahá'í Library.

The Board also expressed their heartfelt appreciation to Mr. Bruce Moore and Mrs. Donna Seyed Mahmoud whose term of service as Deputy Trustees has concluded. [letter from the NSA dated 8 December 2020]

He was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada from 1960 to 1985 and served the last twenty years as the general secretary. In 1985. He was appointed director-general of the Bahá'í International Community's Office of Public Information at the World Centre. He served in that capacity until 1993 when he was elected to the Universal House of Justice. He retired from the House of Justice in 2005 due to considerations of age and related needs of the Faith. [BWNS1455]

• His major publications were:
  • The Violence Free-Society: A Gift for Our Children. Bahá'í Studies. Vol. 6. 1979.
  • Unity: The Creative Foundation of Peace. Bahá'í Studies Publications, Ottawa 1986.
  • The Psychology of Spirituality. Paradigm Publishing, Manotick, Ontario 1994.
  • The Violence Free Family. Building Block of a Peaceful Civilization. Bahá'í Studies Publications, Ottawa, Canada 1995.
  • Conflict-Free Conflict Resolution (CFCR): Process and Methodology. with Roshan Danesh. Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, Fall. (March 21, 2004).
  • Unity of Faith and Reason in Action 2010.
  • The Unity-Based Family. An Empirical Study of Healthy Marriage, Family, and Parenting. H.B. Danesh, MD, FRCP(C), with Azin Nasseri, PhD. Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 1 edition (1 April 2017). It was illustrated by Katia Breton.
  • The Mysterious Case of the IWs: A Story to Help Children Cope with Death Published by Efp-International Press (April 16 2012).
• For a more complete list see his website.
• Documents by Hossain Danesh on Bahai-library.com.
• YouTube.
• See His website.
• See article by his son Roshan Danesh about the passing of his father and his son. [Times Colonist 30 July 2020] iiiii

• Of specific interests were stories of the positive influences of the following groups on individuals, communities and the general public: The "Mozart Group" (1967-1969); The "Multimedia Environment" Proclamation Team (1969-1970); and "Jalál" (1970-1973). [Bahá'í Canada 28 February 2020]

The Office of Public Affairs works on a range of topics and issues that are related to the well-being of Canadian society. Many of these issues fall within one of our areas of focus, which are broad domains in which we try to build relationships, develop content, and create opportunities for learning and dialogue that can eventually contribute to public policy.The areas of focus are: Citizenship and Diversity, Reconciliation, Religion in Public Life, Gender Equality as well as The Role of Youth in Society and Relationship with the Environment.

The Office also communicates with the Canadian government regarding the ongoing persecution of Baha'is in Iran and Yemen.

The site also hosts a document library with official statements and reports produced by the Office. [CBNS]

• Plenary session recordings of past sessions are available for free streaming and downloading on the ABS Vimeo page.
• Photos.

• The cover has the image of a beaded necklace with an eagle on it. It includes prayers on courage, generosity, honour, humility, respect, thankfulness, and trust. "It is very common amongst many of the Indigenous peoples across Canada to think of their major teachings in terms of seven virtues as seven is considered to be one of the sacred numbers often used," said Deloria Bighorn, who helped to create the prayer book.
• To help readers of the prayers to pronounce the Hul'q'umi'num' words, videos were created of a number of elders reciting the prayers. The prayer book includes QR codes that link to YouTube videos of each prayer being recited. The prayers were originally translated by a team of the family of Robert George, a Cowichan Baha'i who comes from a family of Hul'q'umi'num' speakers.

From the windswept Canadian prairies to the cities and villages of Europe and North Africa, Shar Mitchell's search for meaning and purpose ultimately led her to embrace the Bahá'í Faith. In this unselfconsciously honest memoir, she explores life's changes and chances—from her youthful exploration of new places and ideas to her experiences with love, marriage and loss. After her first marriage ended in divorce, she met and married her "bridegroom from Baghdad", Redwan Moqbel. Born to a poor Bahá'í family in a dusty border town between Iran and Iraq, he was an internationally-renowned medical scientist by the time he and Shar married. But his own life wasn't without tribulation. Iraq, a country that persecuted its Bahá'i minority, sentenced Redwan to life in prison in absentia and jailed his mother for many years. Shar's dream of meeting her courageous in-laws would finally come true because of a catastrophic health crisis—Redwan's difficult battle with cancer. Revealing the facets of a life equally shaped by curiosity, hardship and faith, The Bridegroom from Baghdad is an inspiriting window into facing even the most difficult challenges with courage, acceptance, and resilience.

• Bani Dugal: "The Equality of Women and Men: Divine Imperative for an Age of Transition."
• Hugh Locke: "Half the Sky, Half the Land: The Role of Women Farmers in Transforming Agriculture,"

Hugh Locke is president and co-founder of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), a non-profit working with small-scale family farmers to help feed and reforest a renewed Haiti. He is author of The Haiti Experiment, and writes and lectures extensively on smallholder farming and sustainable development. Earlier in his career Hugh was director of the Office of Public Information at the Baha'i International Community in New York and served as a member of the program committee for the 1992 Baha'i World Congress. He was mentored by forester and environmentalist Richard St. Barbe Baker (1889 – 1982), established the Baker archives at the University of Saskatchewan, and continues to serve as literary trustee.
• Payam Akhavan: "Equality and Justice, Global Perspectives" and "Countering War, Hate, and Violence Assembly."
• Emily Wright: "Making Interreligious Chaplaincy Education Meaningfully Inclusive" and "A New Cup of Grace—A Ukulele Opera
• Hooshmand Badee: "Interfaith Peacemaking Perspectives from Across the World."
• Nader Saiedi: Presenting the new documentary film The Gate: Dawn of the Bahá'í Faith.
• Paul Hanley: "Man of the Trees: Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Environmentalist."
• JoAnn Borovicka: "Amazing Faiths! An Interactive Workshop on Interfaith Dialogue."
• Robert Atkinson: "New Thoughts in Interfaith Spirituality."
• Robert Stockman: "The Characteristics of Bahá'í Interfaith Dialogue." Candace Hill: "From Shiraz to Chicago: Bahá'í Women of the East and the West"
• Edward Price: "The Divine Curriculum: Understanding the Báb, Divine Educator for the Modern Era."
• Sovaida Maani Ewing: "Achieving World Peace: Bahá'í and Catholic Teachings."
• Jean Muza: "Bahá'í Civic Engagement: How to Maneuver in America's Divisive Political Landscape."
• Robert Atkinson: "The Golden Rule as the Basis for a Global Justice System: An Interfaith Perspective with a Call to Action."
• Edward Price: "The Divine Curriculum Concept as a Framework for Interfaith Inclusion and Love." [CBN-Preparation; CBN-Inclusion; CBN-Films]

  The Hindu Swami Agnivesh said that instead of spending trillions of dollars on the war system, the peoples of the world need to unite and create a world parliament based on an Earth Constitution. He said that "without a world government, we cannot solve our major world problems." [Black News 6Feb2022]

Richard St. Barbe Baker was an inspirational visionary and pioneering environmentalist who is credited with saving and planting billions of trees. He saved lives, too, through his ceaseless global campaign to raise the alarm about deforestation and desertification and by finding effective, culturally sensitive ways for people to contribute to a more peaceful and greener world. He was also an Edwardian eccentric whose obsession with trees caused him to neglect his family; the devout son of an evangelical preacher who became a New Age hero; an unapologetic colonial officer fired for defending indigenous Africans; a forester who rarely had a steady income; a failed entrepreneur and inventor; a proud soldier and peace activist; a brilliant writer, speaker, and raconteur who made wild claims about the effectiveness of his conservation efforts. His encounters with historical figures like FDR, Nehru, and George Bernard Shaw are eye-popping, as were his accomplishments.

She and her husband, Dr Mirza Javid, had been residents in the Hamilton area since 1968 when he was employed by the public health department. Prior to that they had lived in Montreal where they had settled when they first arrived in Canada in 1966. Aghdas was famous in the Hamilton area for her Friday night firesides which she held faithfully, sometimes attracting as many as 80 attendees.

In 2001, she was chosen to be among a group of Canadian Baha'is — part of 4,500 from around the world — to travel to Israel to witness the opening of a kilometre-long series of garden terraces surrounding the Bahá'í temple on Mount Carmel. [Bahá'í Canada Vol 14 Issue 3]

Every year she would hold a tea to which she invited local dignitaries. [Bahá'í Canada Vol 16 Issue 1 May 2003 p31]

She had been predeceased by her husband in in 1999. She left children Sussan, Ladan and Jasmine, four granddaughters, one grandson, one great-grandson and family in Iran, England, Germany and Brazil. [Hamilton Spectator; Dignity Memorial]