THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Of all the reasons that people choose to live in Fort Smith, Tallis Newkirk might have one of the most unique - religion.

Tallis Newkirk said he moved to Fort Smith largely because it is a pioneering post for the Baha'i religion. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Newkirk and his family, who are of the Baha'i faith, moved to the South Slave community on the recommendation of a friend, another Baha'i who was living in Fort Smith.

The friend told Newkirk that Fort Smith is a great place to raise a family.

"So we came up here on a whim," said Newkirk. "I didn't have employment. We decided, hey, this would be a great opportunity."

However, another reason was the fact that the Baha'i community was shrinking in Fort Smith and in danger of not being able to form a spiritual assembly, which is the local organized body for members of the religion.

"That was a super big factor," said Newkirk. "The fact that Fort Smith is definitely a pioneering post for Baha'is was the main thing that did it. We wouldn't have been here if that wasn't an issue."

Now, the Baha'i community is again in danger of losing its spiritual assembly, which has to be made up of nine adults.

Newkirk explained a member of the Baha'i community recently passed away, meaning there are now eight adult Baha'is in Fort Smith.

Under Baha'i tradition, a spiritual assembly is formed in April. If one is not formed in Fort Smith this month, the community will have to wait until next April.

"We are in danger of not forming an assembly," Newkirk said. "Nothing is given yet, but being that we're not far away from the time that it should be formed, we probably will not form an assembly this year."

However, it is expected that one or two more people of the Baha'i faith will soon be moving to Fort Smith.

Newkirk explained the spiritual assembly guides the affairs of the Baha'i community and offers help to members, such as when a marriage may be breaking down.

Without a local assembly, some issues would be passed to the national spiritual assembly of the Baha'is of Canada, which might contact a nearby assembly to help.

Newkirk said, while there may not be a local spiritual assembly, Baha'is in Fort Smith will still have devotional gatherings and celebrate their holy days.

The foundation of the Baha'i faith is that all religions are part of the same divine education for humanity, which Newkirk calls progressive revelation throughout history.

"Really the only thing that separates them is the time at which they were founded and the capacity of humanity at that time to receive the next installment of divine education," he said.

Although raised in a Baha'i family, the 43-year-old Newkirk said he really didn't consciously decide to be a Baha'i until he was 19 years old.

That was in 1990 when he spent a year of service - on the janitorial team - at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel.

While in Israel, he saw conflicting cultures, countries and religions, culminating with Scud missiles fired at Haifa by Iraqi forces during the First Gulf War.

"It was absolutely mind-boggling," he recalled.

It got him thinking about religion and political systems, and led to what he describes as his "aha moment" and his personal confirmation as a Baha'i.

"As I studied more and more, what I realized is the concept of progressive revelation nullifies the need for us to punch each other in the nose simply because we stem from different religious backgrounds," he explained.

Before he came to Fort Smith, Newkirk lived in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec.

Now, he works at Aurora College as an information technology technician, but he also somewhat surprisingly had a career as a rapper in Toronto in the mid-1990s.

"I spent many years as a struggling and starving musician, recognizing various degrees of success," he said, adding he performed and recorded as a solo artist and with groups, toured in Europe, and even recorded with the now-famous Nelly Furtado.

"I realized that I was never going to be able to feed a family or be with a family if I was to maintain my trajectory as a musician, which was kind of slowly on the up and up," he recalled, although he admitted he loves to perform.

When he got married, he very quickly realized he had to find a real job.

Newkirk, his wife and their four sons will be in Fort Smith nine years this summer, but he admitted there are times when leaving the community is discussed and it would be because of religion.

"For my family, one of the challenges that we have right now is our kids are isolated. Nobody really shares the same beliefs," he explained, noting they don't get to mingle with other Baha'i children.

"Here's the thing," Newkirk said. "I think in today's society it's a challenge to be religious."

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