Ottawa – On Monday, June 7 at 11 am, Palestinian refugee Jihan Qunoo will visit the Prime Minister’s Office at 80 Wellington Street (East entrance) to request an urgent meeting with Justin Trudeau as part of her fight to bring her three traumatized girls and husband to Ottawa from war-ravaged Gaza.

Mayor Jim Watson inducted Ms. Hindia Mohamoud into the Order of Ottawa at a ceremony at Ottawa City Hall on November 22, 2019.

On May 1, Burgers n’ Fries Forever (BFF) and the CapCity Community Project launched their innovative partnership to explore a new way to raise funds for refugees building a new life in Ottawa. Mayor Jim Watson and City Councillor Mathieu Fleury attended the launch to show their support.

Ottawa, June 20, 2018 – The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development, today issued this statement on World Refugee Day:

Gord Downie, the lead singer of the Canadian band The Tragically Hip, passed away on October 17, 2017 due to cancer. The Tragically Hip are one of the most beloved music groups in Canada's history. Gord Downie sang and wrote most of The Hip's songs. Through tears Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about Gord Downie by stating: “Gord was my friend, but Gord was everyone’s friend. He knew, as great as [Canadians] were, we needed to be better than we are. Our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had, and not just loved it in a nebulous ‘oh, I love Canada way,’ he loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life.”

Somali Canadian writer Rowda Mohamud shared the following reflection on the impact a lyric from The Tragically Hip's song Bobcaygeon, written by Gord Downie, had on her as a newcomer to Canada, after having arrived as a refugee with her family in the 1990s. The song is named after the town of Bobcaygeon, Ontario in the Kawartha Lakes region.

The University of Ottawa’s Social Wellness Club has joined a Group of Five to privately sponsor a Syrian family. They are crowdfunding $5,000 over Ramadan as their contribution to this joint effort. Financial contributions can be made online here.

Muslim Link interviewed the club members about their initiative.

People in Ottawa are very generous and have collected tons of clothes, furniture, and household items for refugees coming to the city. But all this generosity has created a problem, where to store all this stuff, particularly as many refugees will not be in a postition to accept these items until they are properly settled in the city.

Hundreds of Ottawa residents gathered on September 5th to raise awareness about the global refugee crisis and what is seen as the current Canadian government’s ongoing lack of support for refugees.

After years of working in community development and youth engagement across Ottawa, Hamid Mousa has been working with the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) since 2008. Currently the OPS Community Development Coordinator, Mousa, a Palestinian Canadian, began as a refugee to this country.

Sheikh Ismail Albatnuni was born in 1964 in Tripoli, Libya. From an early age, he sought out Islamic knowledge, memorizing the Quran, and eventually studying Maliki fiqh (a school of Islamic jurisprudence) from local scholars. However, he knew if he ever wanted to take his studies further it would mean having to leave his homeland.

"In Libya at that time, it was very difficult. Qaddafi shut down all of the Islamic universities," Sheikh Albatnuni explained. Instead, Albatnuni made the practical choice to study engineering and computer systems. However, in 1992, he left Libya to study at a branch of Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) because he was "very eager to study sharia." After graduating, he went on to teach Islamic Studies at Khalifa bin Zayed Air College.