In Memoriam 1992-1997/Arthur Irwin

ARTHUR IRWIN

?—1994

The Universal House of Justice has received your email messages . . . and was saddened to learn of the death of dear Arthur Irwin. I—Iis services, particularly in the field of native teaching, have won him an enduring place in the annals of the Cause in Canada. Kindly assure the members of his family of the loving prayers of the House of Justice in the Holy Shrines for the progress of his soul.

Department of the Secretariat June 23, 1994

From the time of his declaration in 1947, Arthur Irwin dedicated his life to Bahá’u’lláh. In 1948 he was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Montreal.

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Before the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade, the Guardian urged Arthur and his wife, Lily Ann, to teach among the First Nations and Inuit peoples of Canada. In 1955 the Guardian advised him to accept an appointment to the Ministry of Northern Affairs and Resources of the Canadian government, overseeing the development of the petroleum and mineral resources in the lands of the First Nations people—a job that brought Irwin in close contact with native leaders over a twenty—one year period.

In 1956 Arthur and Lily Ann began teaching the Faith on the Peigan Reserve in Alberta, encouraged and assisted by a number of the Hands of the Cause and by many others. They planted the seeds of the First Nations Bahá’í community in Canada, opening the Blood and Blackfoot Reserves to the Faith and assisting the teaching efforts on many other reserves before the end of the Ten Year Crusade.

Arthur’s skill in teaching the natives has been described as follows:

Angus [Cowan, later a Counsellor] had invited the Bahá’ís from Regina to Asham’s Beach [Pasqua Reserve] and told them there would be a great big meeting. When the Bahá’í’s got there, there weren’t any people on the beach and they began to question Angus. But pretty soon a wagon drove up, then an old car, and people began to gather . . . Doug Croffotd of Regina chaired the meeting and introduced the two Indian speakers, Noel Crowe and John Anaquod . . . Angus remembered that they joked a lot and told stories on each other’s tribe. Then they called on Arthur Irwin to speak. He spoke on the beauty of the Indian religion and its similarity to the Bahá’í Faith. Later one of the Bahá’ís from Regina questioned

Arthur Irwin

Arthur’s approach and said to Angus, “wasn’t it a shame, here there were all these people and Arthur had a chance to tell them about the Bahá’í Faith and he never told them?”

Angus reflected on this later: “When Arthur spoke to the friends that day, he told them about their own faith. He built a bridge from the Indian faith to the Bahá’í Faith. And he knew what he was doing, and the reason I know that is because pretty neat all those people who were at that meeting that day have become Bahá’ís. I’d meet them many places afterwards and they’d become Bahá’ís, and I’d say, (where did you first hear of the Faith?’ And they’d say, ‘at that big meeting that day down on Asham’s Beach.’ You see, it doesn’t take much. Well, Arthur really must have

done a very wonderful job that day.”5

95 Pat Verge, Angus: From the Heart; the Life of Caume/[ar/lngm Comm, Springtide Publishing, Cochrane, Alberta, 1999, p. 58.

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Later, when the Itwins moved to Ottawa, they continued to teach on reserves across Canada, and Arthur served on committees for indigenous people.

Sociologist and Bahá’í scholar Dr. Will van den Hoonaard, drawing upon “Early Native Teaching,” an unpublished memoir written by Arthur in 1983, noted:

The importance of reaching the native population of Canada was repeatedly emphasized by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1916 . . . It took another 32 years before the Bahá’í Community embarked on the work of teaching the Bahá’í Faith to the native people. When the Canadian Bahá’í' Community formed its own administrative body in 1948 it was given a goal [by the Guardian] which called for uthe participation of Eskimos and Red Indians in membership to share administrative privileges in local institutions Of the Faith in Canada.” At that time there were only three native believers in Canada.

Very few Bahá’ís, however, thought of undertaking Bahá’í work among the Indians until 1953 . . . Bahá’í efforts to be oFserVice to native people, with the dual purpose of promoting the Bahá’í Faith through social action, were often undertaken through the establishment oforganizations involving Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’í's alike . . . Between 1960—63 the first surge of latge-scale enrollments of native believers took place?“

One such organization was the Yukon Indian Advancement Association established in Whitehorse in 1956 at the suggestion ofArthur and Lily Ann. It was followed

96 Will C. van den Hoonaard, nSocio-denmgraphic

Characteristics of the Canadian Bahá’í Community,” Department of Sociology, University of New Brunswick, June 5, 1991.

by the Native Society of Edmonton and the Indian Friendship group in Calgary.

In his memoir, Arthur wrote:

In the fall Of196o, Lily Ann and I consulted with our Indian friends, Dorothy and Joe Francis and with Indian acquaintances through my work with Indian AHairs, 0n the formation of a social club where Indians and non—Indians could come together. At this time, there were strong prejudices among most non-native Calgarians expressed against the Indians. 'Ihey were excluded on racial grounds from some of the hotels and restaurants, and qualified Indians had difficulty finding employment. By early 1961 the club, later known as the Native Friendship Club, attracted gatherings of 50 to 150 people, more or less equally divided between Indians and whites. We met monthly for dances, speakers, movies, addresses, and just visiting. Meetings were held in Calgary or on one of the three nearby Indian Reserves: Sarcee, Blackfoot, and Stoney. Through this club we became friends with many lovely Indian people, a few of whom became Bahá’ís. Notable amongst these were Councillor Ed Many Bears and his wife, Jean, of the Blackfoot Band, the first Bahá’ís of their Band.97

In 1974 Arthur and Lily Ann had an opportunity to teach in Central America where the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) assigned him to a position with the government of Belize as an adviser on petroleum policy.

Following his retirement from government service in 1977, Arthur engaged in long traveling teaching trips by motorcycle to the First Nations peoples across Canada.

97 Cited by Verge, Angm'.‘ From the Heart, p. 309.

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He also made traveling teaching trips in Belize and in three of the Windward Islands by motorcycle.

In 1981 Arthur had helped to establish the first Carib Indian Spiritual Assembly in Dominica. A year later he returned to deepen the community and to teach in St. Lucia. He was accompanied by Earl Healy of the Blood Reserve. Together they also spoke in schools about the history and tradition of the Canadian Indians.

In 1983 he pioneered for seven years to St. Lucia where he served in village teaching and administration. In 1988, with the approval of the National Assembly, he initiated a mobile institute program.

After his return to Canada he continued to teach on the Peigan and Blackfoot Reserves, and he was instrumental in developing Bahá’í literature for those with low literacy.

Arthur Irwin passed away on June 10, 1994, after a debilitating illness. He was teaching until his last breath, encouraging the interest of hospice workers who attended him.