On the weekend of September 19-21, a diverse group of young adults gathered at the Montreal Bahá’í Centre and the House of Friendship – a community centre that is owned by the Mennonites and that has several local groups working out of it – for a “skills-share” conference aimed at contributing to the transformation of their physical, emotional and spiritual environment.
Rather than organize a conventional Bahá’í youth conference, Nika Khanjani responded to a request by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Montreal by approaching the conference as an opportunity to take advantage of the Bahá’í community’s potential to serve as a facilitator of diverse people and organizations who share conceptual concerns – in this case, about the environment. She assembled a team made up of leaders working in different areas of social change in Montreal. Over seven months, the group established the vision of generating a shift in consciousness towards sustained action and greater social responsibility.
The conference began on Friday evening with dinner, followed by a screening of the Canadian classic short film, L’Homme qui plantait des arbres (The Man Who Planted Trees), by Frederic Back. A dynamic panel discussion made up of young change-makers and educators addressed the challenge of how one person can take initiative and make a change.
The first full day of the conference opened with a presentation by the Association for Bahá’í Studies at Concordia University on the Bahá’í Faith and the environment. Through their review of the writings of the Bahá’í Faith and statements from the Bahá’í International Community they conveyed an attitude towards nature as something sacred. They also highlighted the focus that the Bahá’í teachings place on the spiritual problems that lie at the root of the present ecological crisis.
Saturday’s many diverse workshops were action oriented and interactive in nature. They addressed skills in composting, recycling fashion, eco building, social marketing, yoga, meditation, naturopathy, dumpster diving, blogging, flamenco dance, poetry, collage, job hunting and giving walking tours of one’s neighborhood. Other workshops saw participants producing video segments on the conference, creating stencils for mural design and developing media campaigns for their respective causes.
The wide variety of topics covered in the workshops drew on the spirit of a quotation from Shoghi Effendi, the Head of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 to 1957 before its international council was elected: “We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it.”
In the evening, the participants gathered for an art show and neighborhood block party, complete with home-made food, hot chocolate, apple cider, and DJ’s providing music from a balcony above.
The final day took place at the Bahá’í Centre, where the conference participants joined in the weekly community devotional gathering, which was enriched by the participation of many new faces. After eating brunch together, the weekend closed with an open consultation where all reflected on the lessons and skills gained at the conference.
The spirit of Montreal Shift is to live on as an annual conference. See the Montreal Shift blog where participants can share the lessons from their respective projects.