This week, a young Muslim woman will give a keynote address on integration with Canadian society to a large gathering in Toronto. In mid-October, Muslim women will recognise their peers who have made a difference with contributions to civic engagement in Canada. And later this year, a Muslim woman will be honoured by the Canadian government for championing women's rights and promoting interfaith dialogue.

In early July, Canadians engaged in an online conversation with the aim of increasing their understanding of Muslims, the main non-Christian faith community estimated by government demographers at 1.1 million in 2011 or 3.2 per cent of the total population. It was an initiative of the national daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail, which ran a series of articles on Muslims and invited readers to comment and ask questions.

In particular, readers were curious how Muslims reconcile their lifestyle, which is inspired and informed by a seventh century religion, with the egalitarian values of a modern, secular society. One key subtext was gender relations and the common misperception that Muslim women just get married, have babies and stay home to serve their men.