- 1934-00-00 — The first talk on the Bahá'í Faith was given in Calgary. May Maxwell had arrived by train at the Palliser Hotel situated at 9th Avenue and 1st Street West where she spoke to a women's Peace Club meeting. Her husband, William Sutherland Maxwell was the architect of the hotel.
[The Distance Traversed a presentation by Bev Knowlton and Joan Young 2022]
- 1939-04-00 —
Jean Doris Skinner became the first Bahá'í to settle in Calgary, AB. She had become a Bahá'í in Vancouver in 1936. She left Calgary in 1949 to pioneer to NL. [OBCC184]
- 1939-09-00 — Kathy Moscrop, Rowland Estall, Miss Mae McKenna of Vancouver, and Miss Doris Skinner met together in Calgary to discuss the progress of the Faith in Canada. They represented four provinces. During this time a meeting of fifteen non-Bahá'ís was arranged by Miss Skinner, from which a study class was developing. A radio talk was given in Calgary by Dr. Mariette Bolton. Many Bahá'í books were being circulated. [Bahai News No 131 November 1939 p4]
- 1939-09-00 — Rowland Estall combined his business travel with teaching visits to Calgary and Regina as well as Vancouver and West Vancouver. He had earlier laid the foundation of his business in visits to Toronto and Montreal, in both of which cities he lectured, as well as in St. Lambert. He also made excellent contacts with two University professors who, with a few others, have started an important social and religious reform movement in Canada and have published a popular textbook of the movement. During July Mr. Estall taught regularly in Winnipeg a study group of six to eight inquirers, following an outline of seventeen lessons which he developed on the World Order, using as a basis of each discussion a different free literature pamphlet which was distributed. The first result of his Winnipeg work was the registration of Miss Lillian Tomlinson. Dr. Mariette Bolton also visited and spoke in Winnipeg to the Quota Club. [Bahai News No 131 November 1939 p4]
- 1941-06-00 —
Dorothy Sheets became the first Bahá'í to enroll in Calgary, AB. [OBCC184]
- 1942-07-00 — Evelyn Cliff of Vancouver found a teaching job in Calgary and moved there accompanied by Anne McGee, a member of the Vancouver Youth Group. In October Sylvia King relocated from Winnipeg to join Evelyn, Anne and Doris Skinner. [fBN155 August 1942 p5]
- 1947-10-00 —
Noel Wuttunee (Eagle's Tail Feathers) a Cree from Calgary was the first Indigenous Canadian to join the community. [Bahá'í Canada Site; OBCC153]
- Mention in CBN No38 Feb 1953 p6, "Gerda and Noel Wuttunee are at present residing in this community at 10958 - 84th Avenue and will remain in Edmonton for the winter."
- In 1950 he served on the "Prairies Indian Committee". [CBN No 15 September 1950]
- He may have been a resident of Winnipeg originally. [OBCC209-210, 227]
- See OBCC144 for a photo.
- See BW12p793 for a photo of Noel and his wife.
- 1947-11-15 — Noel Wuttunee and Gerda Chrostopherson, both who had recently moved from Calgary, accepted the Faith and were married in Winnipeg. [Bloodworth, Grains of Wheat p19]
- 1949-00-00 —
Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed in Calgary and Veron, the 16th and 17th to be established. [CBN No 46 November, 1953 p2]
- 1953-06-00 —
Hand of the Cause Siegfried Schopflocher made a tour of Western Canada to inform the friends of his trip to Haifa, his talks with the Guardian and his plans for the Ten Year Crusade. Stops were made in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton. [CBN No 43 August, 1953 p2]
- 1953-10-00 —
Florence Mayberry of Santa Paula, California made a tour of Western Canada with stops in Victoria, Vernon, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Regina, Moose Jaw and Brandon. [CBN No 47 December, 1953 p4]
- 1957-02-19 — Dr Donald Kidd and Mary Campbell, both of Edmonton were married in a Bahá'í marriage ceremony in Calgary. It was the first Bahá'í wedding to take place in the province of Alberta. [CBN No87 April, 1957 p3]
- 1960-07-01 —
Ben Whitecow and Louise Many Guns were married in the first Bahá'í marriage legally recognized in Canada in a Bahá'í service by the Spiritual Assembly of Calgary, Alberta. The Canadian Bahá'í News article noted the significance that it was a First Nations couple who had this honour in this unique event. "Thirty people attended from Edmonton, Lethbridge, Regina, Piikani First Nation (Peigan Reserve), AB, and Calgary. This event was unique in that it was the first legally recognized Baha'i marriage in Canada. It is significant that a First Nations couple should have this honour [Canadian Baha'i News 1961].
- 1978-04-00 —
Dorothy Francis (b. 22 March 1912) was named to the Order of Canada for her outstanding service to the Aboriginal population of Western Canada. From the Saulteaux tribe she was born on the Waywayseecappo First Nation near Russell, MB and she and her husband became Bahá'ís in 1960 in Calgary. She helped found the first Friendship Centre in Regina and in Winnipeg. The preservation and the enrichment of First Nations culture and tradition led her to spearhead the organization of several First Nations Cultural Clubs. She received her metal of the Order of Canada in Ottawa and was the subject of a 30 minute film during the presentation. [BW17:103; VV29; BW20p990–991]
- For a picture see BW17:103.
- 1982-01-20 —
The passing of Mabel Harriet Pine (b. 1882 Bristol, England) in the Norword Auxiliary Hospital in Edmonton. [Bahá'í Canada Vol 4 No3 July/Aug 1982 p46]
As a young woman born into a privileged class she was a suffragette and a reformer. She worked as a nursemaid and governess then moved to Algiers and then Chile. After returning home she decided to emigrate to Canada and lived first in Vancouver and then in Edmonton where she trained as a nurse and married.
- After loosing one child and almost loosing a second, in 1925 they moved to Armstrong, BC where she first heard of the Faith. They didn't stay long in Armstrong but moved back to Alberta for work. It was while she was visiting England the following year that she stayed with Claudia Coles and became confirmed in the Faith.
- After living in Scollard, AB (1926-1927) and Vermillion, AB (1928-1941) they moved to Edmonton where they stayed for a year for the education of their daughter, Allison. She joined Mary Fry who had been there since 1940, the first Bahá'ís to live in Edmonton since Esther Rennels (1911-1917). They lived in a few more small towns in Alberta and in 1947 she and her husband separated and she moved back to Edmonton. [OBCC122, 186]
- In about 1952 she pioneered to Vernon, BC.
- She moved to Calgary to help form an Assembly in 1953 and left in 1954 to return to Edmonton. [CBN No 56 September 1954 p5]
- 1975 she was living in New Westminster and her daughter moved her back to Alberta to care for her.
- In her honour the Edmonton Community has established the Mabel Pine Bahá'í School for the spiritual education of children. [Bahá'í CanadaVol 16 No 1 May 2003 p14]
[With thanks to Allion Stecyk for her tribute to her mother Mabel Harriet Pine: Unsung Heroine of Canada and to Joan Young for her research assistance.]
- 1997-03-00 —
The passing of Noel Wuttunee. Mr. Wuttunee was the first Native Canadian to accept the Faith in Canada. He passed away in Seattle, WA. He was well-known in the mid-fifties and early sixties for his evocative artwork and his ability to teach the Faith to his people. He was taught the Faith by fellow artist Gerda Christofferson, whom he later married. Mr. Wuttunee had lived in the United States since the mid-sixties. [BC vol 9 issue 3 Sept 1996 p27]
- Gerda Christofferson passed away in Calgary 14 July 2012. [Calgary Herald]
- 2016-04-22 —
The 68th annual National Convention was held in Calgary; Those elected to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly were: Enayat Rawhani, Mehran Anvari, Karen McKye, Gerald Filson, Ciprian Jauca, Deloria Bighorn, Judy Filson, Élizabeth Wright and Hoda Farahmandpour. [Bahá'í Canada 27 April 2016]
- Letter from the National Convention to the Universal House of Justice.
- The National Convention was addressed Counsellor Antonella Demonte from the International Teaching Centre.
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