Chronology Canada: Date 1985

Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith in Canada

World Canada
any all exact phrase

Date 1985, descending — sort earliest first

date	event	tags	firsts
1985 23 Dec 198-	Mrs Angela Sidney was awarded the Order of Canada. She was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada on the 9th of April 1986. One of the last living speakers of the Tagish language, she has been actively involved in recording oral history and publishing books containing songs, traditional stories and Tagish and Tlingit- language place names of the Southern Yukon. By doing so, this prominent elder in her community has made a major contribution to northern linguistic and ethnographic studies and to the preservation of the Native cultural heritage. [Governor General's website] See Windspeaker.com website for a short biography titled Angela Sidney: Preserving the culture, a personal endeavour. iiiii	Angela Sidney; Tagish; Tlingit
1985 22 Nov 198-	The passing of Melba Whetung Loft 'Kinaaj-Kwe' (b. 24 December 1912 Curve Lake First Nation) at the Curve Lake First Nation near Peterborough. She was the first Canadian First Nations person to accept the Faith in Marysville Michigan in 1938. Melba and her husband Jim were buried side by side on the Tyendinaga First Nation were he was born and grew up. [BW19p697; BC Vol 8 No 2 April 1986 p17]	- In Memoriam; Melba Whetung Loft; Curve Lake First Nation, ON; Peterborough, ON; Tyendinaga First Nation, ON	first Canadian Indigenous believer
1985 21 Jul 198-	Prior to this time, some national communities elected their delegates to the National Conventions on the basis of areas that had Local Spiritual Assemblies, while in other larger national communities, delegates were elected on the basis of electoral units in which all adult believers had the vote. From this time forward, all were to use the Electoral Unit system. There would be no change in the number of delegates elected to attend the National Convention. Given the wide variety of geography in the Bahá'í world, each National Spiritual Assembly was directed to establish the most effective means for the election of the delegates to its National Convention and for providing for an opportunity for consultation among the electors. [Message 21 July 1985] In its letter of 2 January 1986, the Universal House of Justice referred to ''a new stage in the unfoldment of the Administrative Order," a stage characterized by a "new development in the maturation of Bahá'í institutions" which marks "the inception of the fourth epoch" of the Formative Age of the Faith.	National Convention; Elections; National Spiritual Assembly, election of; - Bahá'í World Centre
1985 28 Apr 198-	The passing of Samson Knowlton in his eighty-third year. Samson and his wife Rosie, who died in 1981, were among the ﬁrst six members of the Piikani First Nation (Peigan Reserve), one of the three branches of the Blackfoot tribe, to proclaim their faith in Baha'u'llah. Their acceptance of the Faith in 1958 resulted from a visit to southern Alberta of the Hand of the Cause John Robarts. The Knowltons quickly became effective Bahá'í teachers, assisting in the formation in April 1961 of the ﬁrst Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Peigan Reserve. Samson was also a member of the Band Council, and was instrumental in the passing of a resolution to permit Bahá'ís to visit and teach the Faith on the Peigan Reserve. He made many teaching trips throughout North America, fostering a spirit of harmony between native and non—native communities. In 1960, Samson accompanied Canada's ﬁrst native Senator, James Gladstone, a Blood Indian, to Ottawa to present to the federal Government a proposal urging it to extend to native people the right to vote in federal elections. (Note: On 31 March 1960, portions of Section 14(2) of the Canada Elections Act were repealed in order to grant the federal vote to status Indians. First Nations people could now vote without losing their Indian status.) He was also instrumental in having eliminated the 'permit system' which prevented First Nations people from leaving the reserve. [BW19p668-669] iiiii Rosie's Guest Book from 1960 to 1965 included the following names: Hasan Balyuzi, Agnes Harrison, Doug Crawford, Angus Cowan, Reg Wilson, Dorothy Francis, Harvey Iron Eagle, Henry Keg, Douglas Martin, Peggy Ross & many more. Other visitors were Ruhiyyih Khanum (21 May 1961) and Hooper Dunbar 24 July 1962). [The Distance Traversed a presentation by Bev Knowlton and Joan Young 2022]	- In Memoriam; Sam Knowlton; Rosie Knowlton; Piikani First Nation, AB
1985 198-	Number of Local Spiritual Assemblies in Canada: 350 Incorporated Local Spiritual Assemblies: 159 Localities where Bahá'í reside: 1,500 Members: 2,100 [from a pamphlet, The Bahá'í Faith and its World Community published by the NSA of Canada]	Statistics; Canada
1985 7 Mar 198-	The passing of Continental Board of Counsellor Lloyd Gardner. [Mess63-68p660] See BW19p663-665	- In Memoriam; Lloyd Gardner
1985 (In the year) 198-	The publication of The Bahá'í Faith; The Emerging Global Religion by William Hatcher and Douglas Martin. It was first published by Harper and Row, San Francisco and has seen numerous reprints. {BEL 7.1143 p87] Outlines the history, teachings, structure and community life of the international Baha'i community, in an updated edition that includes coverage of the Baha'i Faith's views about world peace and the equal roles of women.	The Bahá'í Faith; The Emerging Global Religion; William Hatcher; Douglas Martin


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