The Bahá’í Community of Edmonton joins with the Indigenous people and communities of Canada in grieving the profound loss of the 215 children whose remains were found at the Kamloops Residential School by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc [tkumlips t’ skwabem] First Nation. This grievous legacy from Canada’s colonial past entailing the loss of dignity, language, culture and freedom, and the lives of so many precious children, is surely a legacy that all of us must acknowledge and vow never to see repeated.
In recognition of this very sad event, the national governing body of the Bahá’í Community of Canada recently called upon all Bahá’ís to honour the young souls, their families and communities by offering special prayers over the next weeks, in private prayer and in devotional gatherings or vigils on 3–4 June and to join with others of many different backgrounds and beliefs to educate ourselves and commit, in action, to a future that becomes day by day more illumined, freed of the darkness of this age.
The Bahá’í writings call upon everyone to “…be as flames of love in the world, and that the brightness of your light and the warmth of your affection may reach the heart of every sad and sorrowing child of God[1] …that perchance the evidences of injustice may be blotted out and the splendour of the light of justice may shed its radiance upon the whole world[2].” In such a time of grief, love and unity are the only solution.
All of us, women and men, young and old, must reach out to our suffering Indigenous sisters and brothers, offering them whatever solace we can, wrapping them in a blanket of love and warmth during this difficult time. “The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole[3]” but the task of looking out for the welfare of all seems insurmountable. It is only when we all work together in unity that any movement can be achieved. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, pointed out, “Those who work singly are as drops, but, when united, they will become a vast river carrying the cleansing water of life into the barren desert places of the world. Before the power of its rushing flood, neither misery, nor sorrow, nor any grief will be able to stand.[4]
The Bahá’í Community of Edmonton ardently prays for the healing of this communal grief and for the eradication of injustice against any person or community. We look forward to the day when we will all share equally in the bounties provided by God for us on this earth and live together in joy and harmony as a united human race.