“There was so much grief, pain, and loss of identity,” Mehreen Nasser recalls when she first embarked on a healing journey with the Grassy Narrows First Nation community, a community that resides near the border between Ontario and Manitoba.

The Canadian federal elections are coming up, and between climate change, funding for autism services, the SNC-Lavalin controversy, brownface, blackface and the true face of racism, there has been a lot up for debate on the definition of a good leader, and ultimately, what represents a true Canadian.

Every Tuesday, Aaliya Jaffer walks into the principal’s office of the As-Sadiq Islamic School and greets the administrative staff with a cheerful smile and “Salaam alaykum”. She signs herself in and gets ready for a full day at school volunteering with the grade 3 teacher and her students.