On October 6, Ontario’s New Democratic Party celebrated Ontario’s second annual Islamic Heritage Month by hosting an education and discussion day for Muslim youth at Queen’s Park. Nearly 70 high school students from two GTA schools came to learn more about how provincial politics work, and to have a chance to discuss current issues with NDP politicians and staff, including Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

Update (September 29, 2016) Despite setbacks this week, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and MPP Teresa Armstrong will not give up the fight to designate October as Islamic Heritage Month in Ontario. 

“We have to take action on rising Islamophobia and hate-motivated crime in our Province,” noted Horwath. “Celebrating Islamic culture, history and the contributions of people of Islamic heritage to our society is an important step that the Ontario NDP will continue to fight for, despite the Liberal government this week not allowing Unanimous Consent on Bill 23.”

"Have your children tested for STDs," said a Muslim family doctor during a health session at a Toronto mosque a few years ago. Her message was that unbeknownst to the audience, many of their children were sexually active from an early age.

An information session was organized Saturday at the MAC Youth Centre to explain Ontario’s updated Health and Physical Education curriculum to Muslim parents. The revised curriculum will be introduced in public schools starting September 2015.

When Muslim Link published the opinion piece, A Muslim Principal on Ontario's New Sex Ed Curriculum by jeewan chanicka, we did not expect how popular the article would be. But clearly the subject of the revised health curriculum is on many Muslim parents’ minds and communities across Ontario are organizing parent’s forums on the topic, such as the one being organized by Abraar School on May 2nd. Muslim Link plans to cover these events in Ottawa.

Muslim Link welcomes the current debate the recent changes to Ontario’s sexual education curriculum has stirred within the Muslim community particularly as it is encouraging parents to be more engaged in what their children are learning at school. We are publishing one perspective on the new curriculum from a Muslim Canadian principal in a Toronto-area public school. We hope to hear other perspectives on this issue and welcome submissions which are in agreement or in opposition. You may submit them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To view an opposing opinion, read this interview with Farina Siddiqui.

There are concerns that younger voters might not be very engaged in this year’s Ontario provincial election. Muslim Link has sought out young Muslims in Ontario who are working, volunteering, or running with each major party in the provincial election to get their opinion about why it is important to be engaged in provincial politics. Our first interview is with Adnan Ali who is volunteering with Progressive Conservative Candidate Jack MacLaren in Carleton-Mississippi Mills in Ottawa.

We at Muslim Link strive to make it a non-partisan publication that respects that Ottawa's Muslims support a variety of political parties. However, when we were invited to spend a day with Yasir Naqvi, the Ontario Minister of Labour with the Liberal Party, we jumped on the opportunity to see just what a politician does with his or her time. Our goal is to demystify the work of politicians and encourage citizens to take more of an interest in politicians' work throughout their time in office, not just during elections. This is important in order to keep politicians accountable to their constituents. Along with Muslim Link reporters, 16 year-old Adilah Makrup, a Lisgar High School student and photographer living in Yasir's riding, was invited to join Muslim Link on November 15th for the chance to connect with the man who represents her and her family provincially. We hope that this will become a regular series as more politicians invite us to spend the day with them.