Mona Ismaeil is the owner of Modern Hejab, an online hijab store, and blogs at My Modern Hijab. She is also the director of External Affairs for the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council (AMPAC) in Edmonton, Alberta.

Muslim Link interviewed Mona about her experiences being a blogger focused on life as a woman who wears hijab.

On Jan. 29, 2017, a man entered a Québec mosque during evening prayer and opened fire on the backs of 53 congregants. Six died immediately.

Muslim Link’s Aicha Lasfar had an opportunity to interview Deen Squad this summer while they were recording in Ottawa. Accompanied by her husband Ryan Fournier, an Islamic School teacher and long-time friend of Deen Squad’s Ghanaian Canadian Jae Deen and Lebanese Canadian Karter Zaher, the interview explores the group’s journey from Ottawa to Dubai and beyond.

Muslim Link would like to thank Ottawa’s Poet Laureate Jamaal Rogers for providing space for the interview at The Origin Arts & Community Centre.

The Ontario Physiotherapy Association is currently running a campaign called ##PhysioHelpsLives to educate Ontarians about physiotherapy.

Muslim Link spoke to physiotherapists Mohamed Fouda and Keltouma Nouah. Fouda is the manager of Prime Physio Plus Clinic in Ottawa and Nouah is a recent graduate of the University of Ottawa’s Master in Physiotherapy program who works at the Prime Physio Plus Clinic. We asked them about physiotherapy’s benefits, why more Muslims should consider seeing a physiotherapist, and why Muslim youth should consider a career in physiotherapy.

Now available in their Findlay Creek development, Tartan Homes’ ‘Kawartha’ model is a home that provides with unique flexibility. Accommodating to different living styles, home buyers can choose to have a living room instead of an ‘open concept’ living room.

Developed in response to requests that Tartan Homes has received from home buyers over the last few years, the ‘Kawartha’ is an example of a business listening to its customers’ needs.

Customers like Sakna Bassam.

Asmaa Hussein is a writer, registered social worker, and mother of a spirited daughter. She is the author of “A Temporary Gift: Reflections on Love, Loss, and Healing” where she shares her journey of recovery after her husband Amr Kassem was shot and killed while peacefully protesting in Alexandria, Egypt.

We did it! After a very long campaign, we have secured permanent resident status for Dima Siam, who has lived over 30 months under a cruel and heartless Canadian deportation order to Syria based on a minor paperwork error.

Congratulations to Dima, Mohammad Al Rayyan, and your four children. Hundreds of other Syrian refugees remain under deportation order from Canada. We still have so much work to do.
Below is Dima's statement of thanks: 

Rabia Abdeddaim represented the riding of Quebec, Quebec at Equal Voice’s Daughters of the Vote gathering in March, which brought together 338 young women between the ages of 18 and 23, representing each Canadian riding. Muslim Link had the opportunity to interview several of the young Muslim Canadian women who were selected to participate in this historic event, including Rabia.

While it is home to many brilliant artists, Ottawa is mostly known as a working city and not necessarily for its art scene. Hoping to change the future of art in her city, and perhaps the world, one Muslim woman has a few initiatives up her sleeve.

Anyone who has ever sought out post-secondary education knows it can be a struggle to find the perfect program. One team of young Muslims from Ottawa is changing the scene with a new website aimed at helping students find the Canadian university that’s right for them. 

Apportal.ca is the brainchild of Abdul Amoud. A Merivale High School graduate currently enrolled at the University of Ottawa, he recalls how his own path to post-secondary education was not so smooth.