Messages to Canada | Page 2

into direct, and I trust,
permanent correspondence with those faithful friends of 'Abdu'l-Bahá,
who though few in number and scattered over that vast and flourishing
country, will I trust act as a powerful leaven to the mass of that
spiritually-minded people.
Though its people be firmly entrenched in their religious sectarianism
and strongly attached to their religious doctrines and traditions, yet who
can doubt that with courage and persistence, kindliness and wisdom,
the all-conquering words of Bahá'u'lláh can fail to break down all these
barriers of prejudice and religious exclusiveness and conquer this
longstanding stronghold of sectarian belief!
Surely the efficacy of the universal Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh as applied
to the cherished and time-honoured religious traditions of the East, has
been sufficiently demonstrated to justify at present our confident hopes
for the future and speedy re-awakening of that land.
May the small company of the steadfast followers of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in
Canada be filled with the outpourings of the Divine Grace that are
being showered so mightily in these days upon the friends of God the
world over, and may they arise with undiminished fervour to carry out
to their fullest measure the last wishes and instructions of our departed
Master for that great and flourishing Dominion!
With all good wishes,
Your brother and co-worker, SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine. January 2, 1923.

THE BIRTH OF THE INDEPENDENT CANADIAN BAHÁ'Í
COMMUNITY AND THE FIVE YEAR PLAN. 1948-53

THE BIRTH OF THE INDEPENDENT CANADIAN BAHÁ'Í
COMMUNITY AND THE FIVE YEAR PLAN. 1948-53

Letter of April 14, 1948
April 14, 1948.
ELECTION OF FIRST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND
ANNOUNCEMENT OF FIVE YEAR PLAN
To the First Canadian National Convention.
Hearts uplifted in thanksgiving to Bahá'u'lláh for the epoch-making
event of the coming of age of the dearly beloved Canadian Bahá'í
Community, the formation of the first National Convention in the City
of Montreal and the forthcoming election of Canada's National
Assembly constituting the ninth pillar of the institution of the Universal
House of Justice. I acknowledge with reverent gratitude and deepest joy
the marvellous influence of the operation of the initial stage in
'Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan enabling the northernmost community of
the followers of the Faith on the American continent to pass the stage
of infancy and attain the status, and to assume the functions of, an
independent existence within the World Bahá'í Community. I recall on
this auspicious occasion with profound emotion the heroic services to
the mother community of May Maxwell(1) whose life and death forged
unbreakable links binding the body of the Canadian believers to the
sister communities of the United States and Latin America. I am moved
to appeal to assembled delegates to arise in conjunction with the first
Canadian National Assembly, as a token of gratitude for the manifold

blessings of Divine Providence, to initiate in the hour of the birth of
their national activities a Five Year Plan designed to associate them,
formally and systematically and independently, with their sister
community of the United States, in the common task of the prosecution
of their world-encompassing mission. The fulfillment of this collective
task confronting the rapidly maturing community necessitates the
incorporation of the Canadian National Assembly, the establishment of
National Bahá'í Endowments, doubling the number of Local
Assemblies throughout the Dominion and raising to one hundred the
total number of localities where Bahá'ís reside throughout the
Provinces, the constitution of a group in Newfoundland and the
formation of a nucleus of the Faith in the Territory of Greenland,
singled out for special mention by the Author of the Divine Plan, and
the participation of Eskimos and Red Indians in membership to share
administrative privileges in local institutions of the Faith in Canada. I
fondly hope and ardently pray that the celebration of the first centenary
of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh's prophetic mission will witness the
triumphant consummation of the first historic Plan launched by the
Canadian Bahá'í Community in a land whose future greatness and glory,
both materially and spiritually, the Centre of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant
twice emphatically proclaimed in His immortal Tablets.(2)
SHOGHI.

Letter of November 4, 1948
November 4, 1948.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada.
Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated October 6th, has been
received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
AVOID BLANKET RULINGS
Our teachings, as outlined in the Advent of Divine Justice, on the
subject of living a chaste life, should be emphasized, but certainly no

ruling what-so-ever should be laid down in this matter. The Bahá'ís
have certainly not yet reached that stage of moral perfection where they
are in a position to too harshly scrutinize the private lives of other souls,
and each individual should be accepted on the basis of his faith, and
sincere willingness to try to live up to the Divine Standards;