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Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith in Canada

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2018 1 - 7 Nov More than 7,500 people attended the Parliament of the World's Religions held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This forum began in 1893 at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago as an effort to promote an emerging international movement devoted to promoting dialogue among religions. Since that time, it has been held in Cape Town (1999), Barcelona (2004), Melbourne (2009) and Salt Lake City (2015). [Website] Bahá'í presenters were:
  • 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]

World Parliament of Religions; Toronto, ON
2018 Oct The publication of Man of the Trees: Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist. by Paul Hanley. It was published by the University of Regina Press.
    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.
  • See BWNS1292.
  • See 9 June 1982.
  • Richard St. Barbe Baker; Man of the Trees; Paul Hanley; Regina, SK
    2018 28 Sep The passing of Aghdas Javid (b. 16 July 1924 in Hamadan, Iran) in Dundas. She was born a third generation Bahá'í; her grandfather became a Bahá'í in Hamadan in the 19th century when a large number of Jewish Persians became Bahá'ís. [Find a grave]

    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]

    Aghdas Javid; Hamilton, ON; Dundas, ON
    2018 15 Aug Mr. Enayat Rawhani asked to be permitted to relinquish his membership on the National Assembly. He had sought and received guidance from the Universal House of Justice, consequently a bi-election was held to fill the vacancy and Mr. Zelalem Bimrew Kasse was elected. [Message from the National Spiritual Assembly dated the 16th of August, 2018] National Spiritual Assembly, By-election; Zelalem Bimrew Kasse; Enayat Rawhani; Toronto, ON
    2018 3 Jul In Queen's Park in New Westminster the 7-foot totem pole that was first installed in 1990 in honour of Dorothy Maquabeak Francis was re-erected after having been refurbished. Ella Benndorf, a Bahá'í who knew Dorothy Francis, took the initiative to have the totem restored to more suitably reflect the person it represented as when it was first erected. The totem was originally carved by Joseph Norbert Courville, a prison inmate who had met and was inspired by her while she was working to implement First Nations programs in correctional institutions and the restoration work was done by Bear Sam, a carver of the Tsartlip First Nation of the Saanich Peninsula. [CBNS] Dorothy Francis; Dorothy Maquabeak Francis; Ella Benndorf; Joseph Norbert Courville; Bear Sam; New Westminster, BC
    2018 Jul The opening of the Greenboro Neighbourhood Centre in a strip mall in south Ottawa community of Greenboro.

    The neighbourhood of Greenboro had been a centre of intense activity since 2014, with high receptivity. When the renting of facilities to accommodate these activities on an ad-hoc basis became impractical, the National Spiritual Assembly approved the rental of a former commercial space. Volunteers worked tirelessly to renovate the property to suit the activities that would take place there. This initiative was made possible because of the the National Assembly's Community Properties Fund. [Bahá'í Canada 2019-03-27]

    Community Properties Fund; Ottawa, ON
    2018 20 May The publication of Stumbling in the Half-Light: The Stories by John D Sargent. The book was publish by Friesen Press.
  • See the official website.

      Stumbling in the Half-Light follows a self-professed "chubby little half-breed" from the Six Nations reservation as he embarks on a lifetime of spiritual adventures within the Baha'i community. Through fifty-two short, autobiographical stories, John Sargent retells a life of humour, humility, loss, and faith. John's endearing openness leads him through a life of adventure—from a childhood on the reserve, to years in Africa, to a career in architecture and finally as an administrator of First Nations communities. But his real calling: was to bring the Bahá'í faith to First Nations communities throughout North America.
  • John Sargent
    2018 26 May The following individuals were elected by the delegates at the 70th National Convention held at the Toronto Bahá'í Centre to serve as members of the National Spiritual Assembly for the coming year: Deloria Bighorn, Karen McKye, Mehran Anvari, Ciprian Jauca, Élizabeth Wright, Gerald Filson, Hoda Farahmandpour, Judy Filson and Enayat Rawhani. The officers chosen were: Chairman — Deloria Bighorn; Vice-chairman — Ciprian Jauca; Treasurer — Mehran Anvari; Secretary — Karen McKye. [Message of the National Spritual Assemlby 30 May, 2018]
  • A by-election was held to fill a vacancy on the National Spiritual Assembly when Enayat Rowhani resigned after nearly four decades of service. Mr. Zelalem Bimrew Kasse was the newly-elected member. [Bahá'í Canada 30 May 2018; Bahá'í Canada 29 August 2018; Bahá'í Canada 20 July 2018]
  • Deloria Bighorn; Karen McKye; Mehran Anvari; Ciprian Jauca; Elizabeth Wright; Gerald Filson; Hoda Farahmandpour; Judy Filson; Enayat Rawhani; National Spiritual Assembly, election of; Toronto, ON
    2018 May The launch of the book Equals and Partners: A Spiritual Journey Toward Reconciliation and Oneness, Wazin Îchinabi, a memoir written by southern Alberta author Patricia Verge. The book is a history of the Bahá'í Faith on the Stoney Naked Nation over a period of 35 years.
  • See Bahá'í Blog for a brief interview with Pat.
  • The book was published by Friesen Press and is available at Amazon.ca.
  • See Pat's website.
  • Equals and Partners: A Spiritual Journey Toward Reconciliation and Oneness; Patricia Verge; Stoney Nakoda First Nation, AB
    2018 26 Mar The publication of Equals and Partners: A Spiritual Journey Toward Reconciliation and Oneness, Wazin Îchinabi by Patricia Verge. It was published by Friesen Press.

    Canada is poised to reconcile its centuries-long fraught history with Indigenous peoples and to establish justice. What fundamental spiritual principles should guide this challenging process and bring together peoples who have been separated for so long?

    In this part-memoir, part-scholarly work, Patricia Verge records her decades-long friendship with the Stoney Nakoda Nation in southern Alberta. She explores how her spiritual journey has been intimately entwined with service among Indigenous people and confronts her own ignorance of the true history of Canada, taking for her guidance this quote from the writings of the Bahá'í Faith: "a massive dose of truth must be administered to heal."

    An engaging and timely work, Equals and Partners is ultimately a story of love and commitment to the principle of the oneness of humanity.

    Patricia Verge; Nakoda First Nation
    2018 (In the year) The publication of Faithful Friends by Marlene Macke. It was published by Art Bookbindery.
      In 1919 a small and diverse group of people in Toronto, Ontario accepted the teachings of a new divine educator, Bahá'ú'lláh. During the next nineteen years, they kept the flame of faith alive until achieving the major milestone of electing the first local governing body of their Bahá'í community. Faithful Friends documents the trajectory of a faith community building its Bahá'í identity.
    Faithful Friends; Marlene Macke

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