Somali Canadian Abdirizak Mohamud has been a foster parent with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa for over 10 years, during which time he has fostered over 15 children. The majority of these children have been from Muslim backgrounds. Muslim Link interviewed Abdirizak about his experience as a foster parent and why more Muslim foster parents are needed in Ottawa.

The Awakening: Reviving the Spirit of Somali Youth Conference has grown into an annual event that celebrates the achievements of Somali Canadians while also providing a platform to discuss community challenges. The conference returns for its fifth year on Saturday, January 30th. 

Somali Canadian Mahdi Hassan studies Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ottawa. He plans to pursue a career in pediatric medicine. In his teens, he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

Muslim Link attended this year’s I.LEAD Conference and asked participants to reflect on what community means to them. Here is a response from Somali Canadian Faisa Omar, a graduate student in neuroscience, who regularly does photography and videography for community events and Muslim Link's A Muslim History of Ottawa, volunteers with Ottawa Islamic School, and runs a weekend duqsi (Quran School in Somali) in her home for neighbourhood children.

Muslim Link attended MAC’s Canadian Family Day event on February 16 and asked people: What Does Family Mean To You? Here is the response from poet and playwright Habiba Ali along with her siblings Asha and Abdullahi Ali.

Faiza Hassan, a trainee lawyer in Ottawa, reflects on the importance of professionalism for young professionals from Black and Muslim backgrounds navigating workspaces where there are still not many people who look like them. This article is based on a speech delivered by Faiza Hassan at the Awakening the Spirit of Somali Youth Conference in January 2015

Muslim Link is continuing its series Muslims of Ottawa. At the Canadian Muslims for Peace, we asked Muslims who attended: What Does Peace Mean To You? Here is the response of youth worker Mohamed Islam, who also sits as the Somali Community representative on the Ottawa Police Service's Community Police Action Committee (COMPAC).

This year's Awakening: Reviving the Spirit of Somali Youth focused on Education.

The Noor Conference, otherwise known as "Go Halal or Go Home" is back for another year from December 19th to 21st at Masjid Assunnah and the University of Ottawa. It began in 2011 and is an initiative that has been led by Muslim Canadian youth from the beginning.

25 years ago today in Canada, 14 women were murdered for being women. The massacre at l'École Polytechnique in Montreall'École Polytechnique in Montreal by Marc Lepine which took place on December 6th 1989. At the end of November this year, Somali Canadian public health nurse Zahra Abdille and her son Faris, 13, and Zain, 8 were brutally murdered by her husband Yusuf Abdille. The lives of the women who were murdered in the Montreal massacre and of Abdille and her children were recognized on December 5th at the Somalic Women's Circle Network's I Matter, Gender Equity Matters Event which took place at Carleton University in partnership with the university's Institute of African Studies. The event was organized as part of the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence which begins on November 25, the UN International Day to End Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, Human Rights Day.