As you may be aware, our neighbourhood, Herongate, is currently undergoing the largest eviction campaign in Canada. We are being mass evicted, our affordable townhouses destroyed and our community torn apart. This is a gross violation of human rights.

Herongate is located where Heron Rd emerges from Walkley Rd in Ottawa’s southeast. It is the most diverse neighbourhood in Ottawa. It is also one of the poorest. The neighbourhood has a significantly large and multigenerational Muslim community.

The north side of Herongate is owned almost entirely by one company, Timbercreek. The Toronto-based corporation acquired housing in the Herongate area in 2012 and 2013.Many tenants feel that Timbercreek has purposefully neglected the houses in Herongate because they knew they intended to evict the tenants, demolish the houses, and build housing that is targeted towards higher income tenants. Explore this process of neglect in pictures online here.

The Kanata Muslim Association is holding a Meet & Greet with candidates running in the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election in the provincial electoral district of Kanata-Carleton.

The Meet & Greet is taking place Wednesday, May 9 at 6:30 pm at the Richcraft Recreation Complex in Kanata, Ontario.

Muslim Welfare Centre and Project Ramadan came to Ottawa on April 22nd to work in partnership with the Ottawa Food Bank to build over 100 food baskets with the help of local volunteers and city officials, including Mayor Jim Watson.

Somali Canadian Habiba Ali's encore performance of the third installment of her series of plays starting the character Hawa Haji,"An Immigrant's Tale".

You can check out the play on Saturday, April 28 at 6pm at Woodroffe High School, for details click here.

Authors to Check Out At The Ottawa International Writers Festival (OIWF). The theme of this year's Ottawa International Writers Festival is "A Diversity of Perspectives"

Muslim Link would like to highlight some authors we think are exploring issues that are relevant to Muslims in Canada, particularly Muslims in Ottawa-Gatineau.

The Project Ramadan initiative was created under Muslim Welfare Centre of Toronto almost 10 years ago by a group of young adults who found themselves concerned about the food disparity within their local community.

This Sunday, April 22nd, they are coming to Ottawa to volunteer at the Ottawa Food Bank and raise awareness about food insecurity in Canada and they hope you wil join them.

The federal government rejected an Ottawa Muslim centre’s application for money to improve the security of its property, one year after it was the target of a hate crime.

The Ottawa police investigated a hate crime in April 2016 at a local Islamic school which was spray-painted with hateful messages. After the incident, the Ahlul-Bayt Centre which runs the private elementary school requested federal funding to upgrade the school’s fence, gates, and doors for better security. But their request was declined.

“The feeling of unity and brotherhood was undeniable,” said Amani Ali, president of the Ahlul Bayt Student Association (ABSA).

Over the weekend students from the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and Algonquin College, joined together to volunteer at the “In from the cold” event held at Parkdale United Church. The event is held every Saturday through the winter months, to not only feed the hungry and the homeless but also in hopes of “bringing a smile to their face” and “making them feel less alone” according to Gary Crocker, church coordinator.

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.