MONTRÉAL, March 23, 2023

VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) and the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) met on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, and engaged in a constructive dialogue following the regrettable and saddening incident involving a man who was praying in VIA Rail's Ottawa Station.

In 2016, Muslim Link was asked to help Ottawa transit user Hailey DeJong find the OC Transpo bus driver who stood up for her when she was verbally attacked for wearing niqab by another passenger while on his bus. She had managed to get a selfie with him, but had not taken his name and she wanted to make sure that OC Transpo knew how much she appreciated his support.

Muslim Canadian journalist Muhammad Lila from Toronto crowdfunded for a gift for Jake Taylor, an ordinary Canadian who intervened during the violent Islamophobia-motivated assault of a young Muslim woman, Noor Fadel, on the Skytrain in Vancouver in November.

As Noor Fadel stated on her Instagram, "Out of all the passengers he alone stepped in and protected me. He got off the train and comforted me until police paramedics came by. He means the world to me and more than anything I’m honoured to call him a friend."