The brilliant success achieved by the Canadian Bahá’í Community, marking the triumphant conclusion of the Plan formulated on the morrow of the emergence of the community as an independent member of the International Bahá’í Family, is to be regarded as a milestone of far-reaching importance in the evolution of the Faith not only in the Dominion of Canada but throughout the entire Western Hemisphere. The vitality displayed so strikingly by this youthful community, the exemplary fidelity demonstrated by its members to the spiritual as well as administrative principles of the Faith in the conduct of their manifold activities; the splendid cooperation with their national and local elected representatives which they have invariably shown, at every stage in the development of the Plan; the sacrifices they have repeatedly made; the vigilance and care which they have exercised while discharging their sacred and weighty responsibilities; the soundness of judgement, the enthusiasm and perseverance that have distinguished them in the pursuance of their tasks—all these have, in recent years, contributed, in no small measure, to the raising of the prestige of this community in the eyes of its sister communities in both the East and West, and in evoking feelings of profound admiration in the hearts of the followers of the Faith in every continent of the globe. I myself am deeply touched, and feel a profound gratitude for the superb contribution made by this community, still in the early years of its development, to the world-wide progress of the Faith achieved since the inception of the successive Plans undertaken by various National Assemblies for the systematic propagation of the Faith throughout the world. The great strides which this virile and highly promising community has made in so short a period, over so vast a continent, despite such formidable obstacles, and in the service of so glorious a Cause, fill my heart with confidence that the tasks it has now assumed, on the morrow of the successful termination of the first collective enterprise undertaken in Canadian Bahá’í history, will be consummated in a manner that will redound to the glory of the Faith to which its members are so wholly dedicated. The Ten Year Plan which your Assembly has now launched, in its capacity as the elected representatives of the Canadian Bahá’í Community—the recognized allies of the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan—and which constitutes so important a phase of the global Spiritual Crusade on which the followers of the Faith have embarked, marks the inauguration of the initial stage in the unfoldment of the glorious Mission of this community, a Mission which will enable it to implant, in collaboration with its sister community in the Great Republic of the West, and with the support of the Latin American Bahá’í communities associated in the execution of the Divine Plan, the standard of the Faith in all continents of the Globe. TWO PARAMOUNT OBJECTIVES