OUR COMMUNITY

The Bahai community of New Westminster , while small in number is mighty in spirit in a city.  of 71000 inhabitants. Comprising of nearly 75 members, New Westminster Bahai's: long time residents, new residents, seniors, families, professional adults,  generational Bahai's and new believers in the Faith. As a community, we focus our efforts on the spiritual education of children, increasing the spiritual level of the community through prayer and acts of  service towards focused  caring for those in need and the environment 

 

                                  Honoring  

             Dorothy Maquabeak Francis O.C.

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Dorothy Maquabeak Francis was one of Canada’s great Aboriginal teachers, combining her love of Bahá’u’lláh with her promotion of Native culture and identity. A member of the Saulteau First Nation, Dorothy Francis was born and raised on the Waywayseecappo reserve in Manitoba, near the town of Russell. She spent her early married life with her husband, Joseph, on a reserve just outside of Broadview, Saskatchewan.

 

Dorothy Francis was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith by Angus Cowan and became a Bahá’í in 1960. Disturbed by the conflict between Native and Christian cultures and searching for her place and the place of her people in Canadian society, she found that the Bahá’í Faith not only let her maintain her identity, but nurtured it.

 

She served on several Local Spiritual Assemblies (the governing councils that oversee the administrative affairs of local Bahá’í communities). She was also elected as a delegate to the Canadian Bahá’í National Convention several times and travelled to many parts of the country to share the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. She promoted Aboriginal culture and identity in many ways. For that work, she was honoured in 1978 by being appointed a member of the Order of Canada. In her later years, despite the effects of a severe stroke, she created and organized a Native spirituality project for British Columbia corrections institutions. It was therefore fitting that four years after she passed away in October 1990, that it was a prison inmate, Joseph Norbert Courville, that carved a totem in her honour.

 

With the support of the City of New Westminster and in commemoration of National Indigenous Peoples Day, the totem was restored in 2018 by Bear Sam, a carver of the Tsartlip First Nation of the Saanich Peninsula. The totem was re-installed on Tuesday July 3rd 2018 at  a special gathering in Queen’s Park that included song, drumming, prayers, and words dedicated to the loving memory of Dorothy Francis. As curious passers-by stopped in the park to enquire about the gathering, it was apparent that, long after Dorothy Francis’ passing, her life of loving service to others continues to inspire and touch the hearts.