Muslim Link interviewed university student Zein Ahmed who is fundraising to support Yemeni refugees to have fled to Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa. She will be visiting them during this Christmas break when she returns to Djibouti to visit family. She hopes to raise $8000 by December 22nd. Check out her GoFundMe Page.

Tens of thousands of Yemeni refugees have sought refuge in Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia, countries which are themselves struggling with food insecurity. Ahmed reflects on the little attention the world has given to the Yemeni crisis, and what she hopes Muslims and other Canadians will do to support her community.

On September 12th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Ottawa Muslim Association (OMA) for Eid al Adha prayers. This isn't the first time Ottawa's main mosque has hosted a Prime Minister. Shortly after September 11th, Prime Minister Jean Chrietien visited this mosque offering reassurances to Muslim Canadians in the wake of a dramatic rise in violent Islamophobic incidents in Canada and the US. So, it was fitting that just a day after the 15th Anniversary of September 11th, Prime Minister Trudeau should visit this same mosque. 

On June 15, members of Ottawa’s Muslim communities were invited for an iftar (meal to break the Ramadan fast) on Parliament Hill sponsored by 19 Members of Parliament (MPs) including Ahmed Hussen, Alexandra Mendes, Ali Ehsassi, Arif Virani, Bill Blair, Chandra Arya, Fayçal El-Khoury, Greg Fergus, Iqra Khalid, Majid Jowhari, Marwan Tabbara, Maryam Monsef, Omar Alghabra, Rob Oliphant, Salma Zahid, Shaun Chen, Terry Duguid, Yasmin Ratansi, and Ziad Aboultaif.

The event was co-sponsored by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and Paramount Fine Foods.

Muslim Link’s Publisher Mohammad Dourou and Editor in Chief Chelby Marie Daigle were honoured to be among the over 600 invited guests who gathered at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building.

Serenity Islamic Mental Health Awareness held its first conference from May 20th to 22nd at the Ahlul Bayt Centre and the Carleton University Campus.

Along with tackling an important but often taboo subject within Ottawa’s Muslim communities, mental illness, the conference also marked an unprecedented collaboration between members of Ottawa’s Sunni and Shia communities.

Naheed Khan wants Ottawa’s Muslim community to contact their city councillors and ask that the Ottawa Transit Commission agree to provide a low-income transit pass for Ottawa’s low-income residents.

The National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR) and the Canadian Arab Institute (CAI) are collaborating to host the Diversity in Parliament Reception on Wednesday, May 18th at the City of Ottawa. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and engage with several of the current Arab Canadian Members of Parliament. Retired Senator Pierre De Bané, Canada’s first Arab Member of Parliament, will also be a guest of honour. Proceeds from the event will be going towards scholarships for Syrian newcomers and youth parliamentary internships.

The team behind Serenity Islamic Mental Health Awareness is organizing a major conference from May 20th to 22nd to destigmatize mental illness within Muslim communities in Ottawa. Subjects that will be discussed during the conference will include depression, suicide, and addiction. “We want to destigmatize the mystery around mental illness and normalize it because it’s there every day,” Berak Hussain, the conference director, stated. Berak, an Iraqi Canadian professional counsellor, works with Carleton University’s Health and Counselling Services, who have endorsed the event.

Inspired by a recent Letter to the Editor, I have decided to share some reflections on why we need to make it easier to talk about suicide in our communities.

Muslim Link ran into popular comedian Baba Ali at this year’s I.LEAD Conference. Although well known for his comedy and children’s programming, Baba Ali also works on the very serious issue of Muslims and Marriage. He runs the matrimonial site “Half our Deen” aimed at helping Muslims find the right match. We interviewed him about why he set up the website and the challenges he is seeing among Muslims when it comes to having healthy marriages.

This article is a first in a series of interviews Muslim Link is conducting with Muslim children in Ottawa. Ottawa’s Muslim community is quite young but we often do not get an opportunity to hear the thoughts and opinions of this significant demographic on social problems in our society.