Messages to Canada
Author: Shoghi Effendi
Source: Bahá’í Canada Publications
Pages: 276
Pages xiii-xiv   

Preface
It is with immense joy that we release this new edition of Messages to Canada. The publication of this commemorative edition of communications from Shoghi Effendi is particularly momentous in this auspicious year when the Canadian Bahá’í Community celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the introduction of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh to Canada and the fiftieth anniversary of the election of Canada’s independent National Spiritual Assembly.
The edition published in 1965 contained thirty letters and cablegrams, which, other than the Guardian’s first letter to Canada, were concentrated in the period after Canada’s National Spiritual Assembly came into being. Since then, a substantial number of additional letters from the Guardian to individuals, Groups and Local Spiritual Assemblies, as well as to the National Spiritual Assembly, have been collected and catalogued. As a result we are pleased to include 278 letters and cablegrams in this edition.1

The letters contained in this volume are written by the Guardian or on his behalf by his various secretaries. Those written by the Guardian himself have a unique character and a greater authority than messages written on his behalf, but the latter constitute authoritative Bahá’í text, as noted in a letter dated 25 February 1951, written on behalf of the Guardian to a National Spiritual Assembly: “Although the secretaries of the Guardian convey his thoughts and instructions and these messages are authoritative, their words are in no sense the same as his, their style certainly not the same, and their authority less, for they use their own terms and not his exact words in conveying his messages.”
The messages are presented in chronological order. In accordance with guidance of the Universal House of Justice, addressees and other individuals have not been identified, except in circumstances where “it would seem strange or inappropriate to omit a particular believer’s name.” All cablegrams received from Shoghi Effendi have been presented in the original form and without interpolation.
The variety of spelling, capitalization and punctuation used by the Guardian’s secretaries has been standardized to the form most often used by the Guardian himself. The texts remain as written, and have been checked against the originals or authenticated copies of originals. The names used in the text to designate various groups have been retained, notwithstanding that these designations are no longer in common use.
We would like to thank Judith Oppenheimer in the Archives office of the Bahá’í World Centre, and Roger Dahl in the National Bahá’í Archives of the United States, for providing additional texts beyond those in our own archives. We would like to extend our deep appreciation to the diligent and enthusiastic project manager, Ailsa Hedley, who operated under the supervision of an advisory committee of the National Spiritual Assembly. We are also grateful for the proofreading and research assistance of Pixie MacCallum, Jayne Long, Michael Rochester, Jean McKeever, Anne Banani and Sarah Banani.

National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada

April 1998
1.A “message” is a letter or cablegram which has been addressed to an individual, group or Assembly, and which was written by the Guardian, by a secretary on behalf of the Guardian, or which includes portions written both by the Guardian and his secretary.  [ Back To Reference]
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