The Noor Conference, otherwise known as "Go Halal or Go Home" is back for another year from December 19th to 21st at Masjid Assunnah and the University of Ottawa. It began in 2011 and is an initiative that has been led by Muslim Canadian youth from the beginning.

25 years ago today in Canada, 14 women were murdered for being women. The massacre at l'École Polytechnique in Montreall'École Polytechnique in Montreal by Marc Lepine which took place on December 6th 1989. At the end of November this year, Somali Canadian public health nurse Zahra Abdille and her son Faris, 13, and Zain, 8 were brutally murdered by her husband Yusuf Abdille. The lives of the women who were murdered in the Montreal massacre and of Abdille and her children were recognized on December 5th at the Somalic Women's Circle Network's I Matter, Gender Equity Matters Event which took place at Carleton University in partnership with the university's Institute of African Studies. The event was organized as part of the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence which begins on November 25, the UN International Day to End Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, Human Rights Day.

On November 8th, I was invited to speak at the Muslim Coordinating Council's "Turning the Tides: A Panel Discussion on Young Muslim Radicalization and Crime Prevention".

I was particularly pleased that a Muslim youth, Afnan Khan, was given the lead on organizing the panel and moderating the discussion. Muslim organizations need to give more space to younger Muslims to organize and lead sessions that have to do with issues youth are facing.

Chelby Marie Daigle discusses her experience speaking at the University of Ottawa's Muslim Community Association's Islam & Mental Health Discussion Session on October 31st.

Syrian Canadian Mohammad Dourou, the owner and publisher of Muslim Link, was honoured with a Community Builder Award by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) on October 26th at their annual fundraising dinner. Other recipients included Somali Canadian Hawa Shafi Mohamed for her work advocating for Muslims in prisons and South African Canadian Khadija Haffajee, an NCCM Board Member. for her life-time of leadership within North America's Muslim communities.

Muslim Link interviewed Egyptian American Dalia Mogahed when she was in Ottawa speaking at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)’s fundraising dinner.

When Toronto-based Indian Canadian film director Amar Wala first learned about the story of Egyptian Mahmoud Jaballah, whose son Ahmad had to interpret for his father while he was interrogated by CSIS agents, he thought it would make a great short film. "I just thought it was a crazy story. An eleven year old boy has to translate for his father while government agents interrogated him in their home and the translator fell asleep. Truth is stranger than fiction; you can't make that stuff up." The short film, The Good Son, was Wala's graduating piece from York University's film program in 2009.

Transplant: Patient and Donors Stories took place on April 1st to mark the beginning of Ontario’s Organ Donation Month. During this month, the Trillium Gift of Life Network, (a non-profit agency of the Government of Ontario) responsible for facilitating organ and tissue donation and transplantation across Ontario, tries to raise public awareness about the urgent need for people to register to be organ donors. The event was spearheaded by Erica Bregman, a volunteer with the Trillium Gift of Life Network and supported by the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), whose VP, Maher Jebara, hosted the event. Several religious leaders such as Reverend Anthony Bailey, Imam Mohamad Jebara, and Rabbi Reuben Bulka, as well as leaders within Ottawa’s Sikh community, spoke out in order to dispel myths that might exist within their respective faith communities that organ donation is not religiously permitted. But those in attendance were most moved by the presentations of organ donors and transplant recipients like Somali-Canadian Hiba Yusuf.

On March 23rd, the Canada-Pakistan Association (CPA) held their annual Jeeway Pakistan (Long Live Pakistan) Mela in honour of Pakistan Day. Pakistan Day is held on March 23rdto commemorate the Lahore Resolution of 1940 by the All-India Muslim League, whose leader at the time was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah is sometimes referred to by Pakistanis' as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader). The Resolution established the boundaries of the state which would become Pakistan after British India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

"You never really know the impact of a person until they are taken away," said Wader Jemmie, sister of Jabeir Jemmie. Jabeir, at 21, became Ottawa's fourth homicide victim this year; a crime which remains unsolved.