Bahai Library Online

Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith in Canada

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Date 1953-09, descending — sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1953 26 - 27 Sep
195-		 In Winnipeg, where the conference met in the Cowan home, relaxation from more serious discussion was achieved by a play "The Fireside Wood is Green" presented by the Community Players. [CBN No 46 November 1953 p5] Conferences, Teaching; Winnipeg, MB
1953 26 - 27 Sep
195-		 In Toronto over 70 Bahá'ís from 15 localities registered for the conference. A wall-size map of the province, with the assemblies and goals marked, provided visual aid in grasping the scope of the task facing the Bahá'ís of Ontario. [CBN No 46 November 1953 p5] Conferences, Teaching; Toronto, ON
1953 23 Sep
195-		 Ted and Joan Anderson arrived in Whitehorse, Canada, and were named Knights of Bahá'u'lláh for the Yukon. The first local spiritual assembly was elected in 1959. When they left in 1972 there were some 400 Bahá'ís in the area. [BW13:457; KoB255263; LynnEchvarria2008p57; CBN No46 Nov 1953 p3]
  • The Andersons established an organization called the Indian Advancement Association for Indigenous people, which later was changed to the Native Brotherhood and Yukon Association of Non-status Indians. Many of the early Bahá'ís in the Yukon were Indigenous elders. In addition to contributing to the growth and development of the Bahá'í community in the Yukon, these Bahá'ís also significantly contributed to the revitalization of the Indigenous cultures and language of the Yukon. [NSA website]
    		• Ted Anderson; Joan Anderson; - Knights of Bahá'u'lláh; Susan Rice; Marion Jack; Emogene Hoagg; Orcella Rexford; Local Spiritual Assembly, formation; Whitehorse, YT
    1953 22 Sep
    195-    		 Kathleen Weston MacLeod moved from her pioneering post in Charlottetown to the Magdalene Islands. She was followed by her husband Ernest. Although she was qualified as a nurse she was unable to work at the Catholic hospital and so took a job as a temporary replacement for the teacher in an English school. The local minister launched a rumour campaign against her and so she called a meeting of the parents of her school to reveal that she was a Bahá'í and to explain the tenants of the Faith. They expressed their overwhelming support for her in oppositions to the minister's efforts to have her teacher's permit revoked and to have her leave the Island.

    Because she was not able to find employment she departed on the 22nd of December and was replaced by Kay Zinky in February 1954. She was an American from Colorado Spring, Colorado, whose husband, a non-Bahá'í, supported her during her stay of one year, until February 1954. Margaret and Larry Rowdon with their daughter Ayn arrived in the summer of 1954. They stayed until 1969. During this time the rest of their children, Leslie, Ruth, Devin, Karen and Bret were born. [CBN No 49 Feb 1954 p2; CBN No 54Jul 1954 p2] [CBN Vol 18 No 1 May 2005 p24-26; HB25; BW13:453; KoB278-280]

    The first person to declare on the Magdalens was Carole Bates, originally from Nova Scotia. [HB116]

    		Kathleen Weston; - Knights of Bahá'u'lláh; Kay Zinky; Margaret Rowdon; Larry Rowdon; Ayn Rowdon; Carole Bates; Ernest MacLeod; Magdalen Islands, QC first person to declare on the Magdalens was Carole Bates
    1953 20 Sep
    195-    		 The North Atlantic Regional International Picnic was held at the Kappus Farm, McClen Road, in Burt, New York. [CBN No 33 September 1953 p2] International picnic; Burt, NY
    1953 17 Sep
    195-    		 Dick Stanton arrived in Baker Lake on the 17th of September to become a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for Keewatin. He was forced to leave in November of 1958 but Ken and Mary McCulloch to maintain the post. In the early 1960's Dick pioneered to China for five years. [CBN No 45 October 1953 p2; CBN No 47 December 1953 p1; KoB263-264 ]
  • On his way from Churchill, Manitoba, to his pioneer post at Baker Lake, Dick Stanton presented a copy of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era to the library of the Hudson Bay vessel which serviced that northern outpost. [BN No 276 November 1953 p4]
    		• Knight of Bahá'u'lláh; Dick Stanton; Ken McCulloch; Mary McCulloch; Baker Lake, NU
    1953 8 Sep
    195-    		 Jameson and Gale Bond arrived in Arctic Bay in the District of Franklin and were named Knights of Bahá'u'lláh. They stayed until 1955. They were in Cambridge Bay from 1955 until 1962 and then Mr Bond served as the Northern Services Officer, the first to hold this government position. [BW13:451, SDSC127; KoB264-268] Jameson Bond; Gale Bond; - Knights of Bahá'u'lláh; Arctic Bay, NU; Cambridge Bay, NU
    1953 5 - 6 - 7 Sep
    195-    		 Maritime Summer Conference was held during the Labour Day weekend at Little Sands on Prince Edward Island. Bahá'ís from three of the Atlantic Provinces attended-with a total of 18 adults and one youth.
  • Peggy Ross of Scarboro gave a course on "The Reality of Man".
  • The Charlottetown friends presented the play written by Ruhiyyih Khanum, A Spiritual Assembly's Growing Pains. This play included a scene from a real incident which took place in early Montreal Bahá'í history between Ruhiyyih Khanum and Charlottetown Bahá'í Ernest Harrison. [CBN No 45 October 1953 p4]
    		•  Maritime Summer Conference; - Conferences; Peggy Ross; Ernest Harrison; Amatul-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum; - Plays; Spiritual Assembly's Growing Pains (play); Little Sands, Prince Edward Island
    1953 2 Sep
    195-    		 Doris Richardson arrived on Grand Manan Island and was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. She remained there until 1974 The first declaration, Arno Chesley, on the island was in 1958. [BW13:452; CBN No 321 November, 1957 p5; KoB276-277; CBN No 45 October 1953 p1] Doris Richardson; - Knights of Bahá'u'lláh; Arno Chesley; Grand Manan Island, NB
    1953 Sep
    195-    		 A list of National committees with their mandates and addresses of the secretaries was published in the Canadian Bahhá'í News. [CBN No 44 September 1953 p5] National Committees
    1953 Sep
    195-    		 Edythe MacArthur arrived at her post in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and took up residence in Tlell. She found employment as a cook on a dude ranch. She was the first pioneer to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) In 1954 she asked the Guardian for permission to pioneer to Africa and it was granted. [CBN No 45 October 1953 p2; KoB272-273] Edythe MacArthur; Knight of Bahá'u'lláh; Queen Charlotte Island, BC
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