The COVID-19 crisis hovers over the globe today like a haze of smog, and with it, whatever concepts of “normalcy” we once held have now been completely distorted. The foreseeable future of school, playdates, and extracurricular activities are confined to the household. With schools closed and non-essential activities at a halt, parents have been scrambling to hone their skills in becoming teachers and “techies”, cleaners and cooks, at the beck and call of their families around the clock.

“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.