Anonymous of Fort Macleod


“I just want to blend into the wallpaper,” this anonymous isolated Baha’i says. “You asked me what it feels like to be an isolated Baha’i here in Fort Macleod, and I don’t feel isolated because I’m working with the Calgary friends. I’m a homefront pioneer here and I’m kept very busy because I’m First Nations and work closely with my relatives on the Piikani Reserve.”

We sit in her comfortable apartment sipping on coffee.

“Also, I do a lot of reading of Baha’i books and read the Tablet of Ahmad for the people of Fort Mcleod. Primarily, I teach on the reserve,” she says.

Our new friend relays a story about the past history of the Baha’is on the Piikani Reserve, once referred to as Peigan.

It began in the 1960s with the offer of a rug, in person, by Rúhíyyih Khánum to Chief Yellowhorn. It was marked with lettering that read: The Greatest Name. He accepted it graciously and promised to hang it in the hall they were planning to build. A Local Spiritual Assembly was formed and things flowed smoothly until a miscommunication happened that collapsed the LSA.

Our storyteller revealed that a member of the Band Council demanded a letter from the Baha’is stating what it was exactly they wanted from the members on the Reserve. The letter, which is out there somewhere, was not acknowledge and so the Baha’is became unwelcome.

Recently, this anonymous Baha’i narrator spoke with one of her relatives on the Reserve and got things turned around to the positive. The current Piikani Council said, “Welcome home.”

“I’m getting a bit tired now and have asked the Calgary LSA to provide me with some youthful support,” she says. “The young ones can do the teaching and I’ll support them, with my back to the wall blending into the wallpaper.”


…the believers of God must become self-sacrificing and like unto the candles of guidance become ignited... Should they show forth such a magnanimity, it is assured that they will obtain universal divine confirmations, the heavenly cohorts will reinforce them uninterruptedly, and a most great victory will be obtained.... "Tablets of the Divine Plan Revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the North American Bahá'ís"

Range of the Blackfoot nation

Grasslands near the Piikani Reserve

Fort Macleod elevator

Fort Macleod RCMP show