The unique process through which the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly of was incorporated was hailed by the Guardian as "an act wholly unprecedented in the annals of the Faith in any country, in either East or West" (Messages to Canada, p. 13)

When in 1949 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada was formed it was able to secure formal recognition of its status under civil law through a special Act of Parliament -- a victory which Shoghi Effendi hailed as "an act wholly unprecedented in the annals of the Faith in any country, in either East or West". (Adapted from ‘Century of Light’, a statement prepared at the Baha’i World center, commissioned by The Universal House of Justice)