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.

“Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. The All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful…You alone do we worship, and from You alone do we seek help...”

(Holy Qur’an, 1, 1:6)

A rainy day in May – it’s cold and grey, the perfect day to stay in with a good book and a cup of coffee. Not so for the ILEAD team of youth volunteers who are responsible of making promo videos for the conference.

Abdulgadir Ahmed, 17, is one of only two Student Trustees who sits on the Board of Trustees of the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. While other Trustees are elected during municipal elections, student trustees are elected by their fellow students. He has taken on the responsibility of representing such a diverse constituency with a great deal of sincerity. “This isn't just something you do to put on your resume,” he explained. “You do it because you are passionate about it.” Despite his hectic schedule, the Grade 12 Sir Robert Borden student found the time to speak with Muslim Link about the issues that matter to him most.

Noor Siddiqi, 19, and Sara Siddiqi, 15, have a younger brother who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was four. “It has been a long journey for my whole family,” Sara shared. But both sisters are quick to point out that despite the challenges that have come with taking care of a sibling with autism, the experience has enriched their lives.

Last year, the sisters drew the attention of local media when they organized a table at their school, Gloucester High School, to raise awareness about autism on April 2nd, World Autism Awareness Day. With items donated by Autism Ontario, the governmental organization aimed at supporting those with autism, the sisters spoke to their fellow students about the disorder and shared their own story of living with a sibling with autism.

The Muslim Basketball Association of Ottawa (MBA-Ottawa) ended its season with a sold-out All-Star game at the Canadian Tire Centre with Team Arafat facing off against Team Baqi.  As an added bonus, those who attended the MBA-Ottawa game were also able to attend an Ottawa SkyHawks game. During the SkyHawks game, the MBA-Ottawa's Most Valuable Player (MVP), Ali Sow,  was congratulated during half-time in front of a crowd numbering over 2,000. The MBA All-Star game was also recorded by Rogers TV to be broadcast sometime in January.

On November 4th, Mohamed Islam, 31, was awarded with Crime Prevention Ottawa's 2013 Youth Worker Award in a ceremony at City Hall. Crime Prevention Ottawa (CPO) is an organization which aims to reduce crime and enhance community safety through collaborative evidence-based crime prevention strategies. Mohamed Islam is a Youth Worker with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa and is the coordinator of the Somali Youth Support Project, a program run out of the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre.

It's late on a Saturday evening at the 313 Clubhouse. A couple of youths are huddled around the billiards table, weighing up their next shots. Two brothers are having an intense game of ping-pong at the table nearby. Others sit on the floor couches that line the wide room, watching the Sens game on the projector.

After almost a year and a half of holding weekly Saturday night religious lectures and discussions at people's homes, Ottawa's 313 group finally have a place to call their own. 

In April the group secured a small plot on the corner of St. Laurent and Walkley. By May, they had turned it into a fully functioning clubhouse complete with majlises (traditional Arabian sofas), billiards and table-tennis tables, a mini library, and a projector to watch things like last season's Stanley Cup playoffs.  

Moved by the unending stories of death and destruction in Syria, a group of local high school students were inspired to take action. On June 5th, the Bell Islamic Students Association (BISA) organized a well-attended fundraiser to raise money to support Syrian refugees.

“After seeing the horrifying scenes on TV, the mass murder of innocents, the cruelty of the rapes and destruction, as a young activist, it moved me deep down to help the innocents of Syria in any way,” says Nour El-Nader, former Head Girl of the Bell Islamic Students Association (BISA). “That was my motive that kept me going until the dinner reached its success by funding $500.”

The recent I.LEAD Conference held on March 16 was a great success!  It was a very social way to end the March Break with youth from all over the Ottawa-Gatineau region coming together to make a difference. For a first-time event, I think everyone was amazed by the turnout, with more than 2,500 people attending!  We heard speeches by well known scholars and Imams, including Sheikh Yassir Fazaga, Imam Tahir Anwar and Sheikh Navaid Aziz.

Like most great ideas, this one started modestly enough.A few eager Ottawa residents thought it would be neat to invite a popular Canadian Muslim scholar to launch a new book on Islam in the nation's capital.

So they got together with a formal group of Muslim organizations to plan a conference which would bring Dr. Jamal Badawi to Ottawa, as well as other scholars to discuss important faith issues.

That was in 2011. Two years later, that modest idea has grown into a major youth conference scheduled for March 16, 2013 which aims to support young Muslims in every facet of their lives. Organizers are also thrilled that the conference also marks one of the most significant collaborations between Muslim organizations and youth groups ever to happen in Ottawa.