Over the weekend of 11–13 July, the Bahá’í communities of Halifax, Saskatoon and Victoria hosted youth conferences to welcome more youth into a process that provides people of all ages with the opportunity to contribute to constructive social change and to build their capacity to serve their communities.
These conferences were called by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada — their national governing council — to further a process accelerated by the 114 youth conferences convened worldwide last year at the request of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing council of the Baha’i community. Three of the 2013 conferences were held in Canada, in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
More than 80 youth attended the conference in Saskatoon, 65 youth participated in the conference in Halifax, and over 70 attended the conference in Victoria. Despite the hundreds of kilometres separating the conferences, participants shared a unified vision: to raise individual and collective capacity to contribute to their own and to their communities’ spiritual, social and intellectual development.
Elevated conversations about the role of youth in promoting the well-being and prosperity of the community could be heard during and outside of the conference sessions. Among other topics, participants discussed the negative and positive forces in society and how these forces influence the decisions that youth make.
The conferences advanced processes that are contributing to the establishment and consolidation of unity, service and love among youth, through cooperation and mutual effort to break down the barriers of negative peer pressure and a culture of excessive materialism.
The Halifax Baha’i community’s report on the conference described the participants as “young shining stars [who] are illuminating the hearts of friends and neighbours with the pulse and rhythm of service to their local community. The youth of this day are marching forward in the vanguard of social progress and community-building by seeking out their peers, engaging them in activities that inspire individual contributions to a vibrant community life.”
In describing the Halifax Conference, one facilitator said: “The youth conference this past weekend was incredible. So much energy, positivity, and enthusiasm to arise and serve… and how eager they were to serve their communities. So proud of these youth, they are on fire!”
There will be seven more youth conferences taking place this summer in Vancouver and Kelowna, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; Toronto, Waterloo, and Ottawa, Ontario; and Montreal, Quebec.