Family and Community Life (1968-1990)
new immigrants and new adherents from diverse backgrounds. As it
did, so did its institutions and the activities of friends and families. For
Lucille, this involved her serving on regional committees, although
her involvement had to be balanced with her family’s needs and that
of her husband. Alban, like so many of his generation, had little
interest in religion of any kind. For Alban, Catholicism was something
he was born into and as such, it was the faith to which he had to adhere.
Eventually Alban became more familiar with the social and spiritual
teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, and there grew a mutual respect between
Lucille and Alban as to their individual choices of faith and practice.
There were several Bahá’í families from Iran who settled in the
surrounding suburbs of Montreal such as: the Akhavan family in
Beaconsfield; and the Homayoun family mentioned earlier. Over the
1970s and 80s many Bahá’í families of Canadian, American,
European, Egyptian, and Persian backgrounds also settled in Pointe-
Claire and the surrounding region: the Javanmardis, the Monajems,
the Stees, the Skeaffs, and the Niderosts.
Lucille and Her Children
Lucille had a meeting in Quebec City in November 1969 and brought
me with her to experience my first flight in an airplane as a birthday
gift. Several families moved to the region in the early 1970s: There
were the Hatchers from the United States; the Finleys settled in nearby
Cap Rouge and later moved to Pointe-Claire; also, the Zrudlo and Bos
families. These newcomers attracted many new French-Canadians to
investigate, study the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and many became
Bahá’ís. Within a few years many French Canadians embraced and
contributed greatly to this burgeoning community with more Quebec
family names like Audet, Beaulieu, Belliveau, Bergeron, Breton,
Cormier, Gagnon, Garçin, Lachance, Laliberté, Langlais, Larin,
Léonard, Racine, Renaud, Robert, Saint-Amant, Saint-Onge, Sauvé,
Tourigny, Tremblay, Turbide, Vigneault, Wright and so many more.
There are now second and third generations of Bahá’ís in these
families. Many have also married newly arrived immigrants from
diverse backgrounds from as far off as Africa, India, Iran, China, and
Mauritius.