News

Being ME Toronto is an annual conference for Muslim women. This year the conference takes place on Saturday, March 31st. Being ME Toronto is trying to gather Muslim women from across Southern Ontario by organizing buses to the conference in several cities. 

Muslim Link interviewed the team behind Being ME Toronto about this year's conference. 

Abdoul Abdi came to Canada as a refugee when he was six years old and is now facing deportation to Somalia, a country he has never lived in. Why?

After the gruesome death of Abdirahman Abdi, our community could not stand idle. In August 2016, the Justice for Abdirahman Coalition was born. With the support of so many local and national organizations and grass roots love, our Coalition has been able to achieve so much. See our work here.

Muslim Link would love to know what your Muslim organization is doing for Black History Month. Be it your MSA, your mosque, your women's group, your Islamic school, your civic engagement group, your anti-Islamophobia group?

What are you doing?

Muslim Link partnered with Inspirit Foundation, a national, grant-making organization that supports young people aged 18 to 30 in building a more inclusive and pluralist Canada, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Quebec Mosque attack by bringing together young Muslims from across Canada to share short reflections on Muslim idenity in Canada and/or how they are working to resist Islamophobia.

Listen to what they have to say.

On January 29th, 2017, six Muslims were murdered and nineteen injured at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City, Canada.

A year later, Canadians found a variety of ways to commemorate this tragedy.

Liberal MPP Dr. Shafiq Qaadri (Etobicoke North) intends to file a motion on the first day of the Legislature’s spring sitting on February 20th, 2018, to proclaim January 29th a Day of Remembrance and Action against Islamophobia in the province of Ontario.

During January's City Council meeting, Councillor Neethan Shan will introduce a motion declaring January 29 as a Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia in the City of Toronto.

Hamilton City Council has officially recognized January 29th as the Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia, commemorating the attack on the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec in Quebec City in 2017 that left six men dead and several injured. This follows a call from the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) to have this day recognized at the national level.

The motion to recognize the day was put forward by City Councillor Matthew Green at the January 24th council meeting and was passed unanimously. 

Update: Muslim Link was informed on November 4, 2019 that Dr. Fuad Sahin has passed away.

Dr. Fuad Sahin was named to the Order of Canada by Governor General Julie Payette on December 29, 2017. 

On January 29th, 2017, six Muslims were murdered at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City, Canada.

Six people were killed including Ibrahima Barry (aged 39), Mamadou Tanou Barry (aged 42), Khaled Belkacemi (aged 60), Aboubaker Thabti (aged 44), Abdelkrim Hassane (aged 41) and Azzedine Soufiane (aged 57)

The federal government rejected an Ottawa Muslim centre’s application for money to improve the security of its property, one year after it was the target of a hate crime.

The Ottawa police investigated a hate crime in April 2016 at a local Islamic school which was spray-painted with hateful messages. After the incident, the Ahlul-Bayt Centre which runs the private elementary school requested federal funding to upgrade the school’s fence, gates, and doors for better security. But their request was declined.

The Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative (CRDI) is a registered non-profit organization established by young members of the Rohingya community across Canada. CRDI works with prominent Canadians from different communities and organizations to advocate for the cause of Rohingya in Canada and abroad. 

They are currently crowdfunding on LaunchGood so they can purchase winter blankets for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

The Carleton University Somali Students Association (SSA) is organizing a Somali Night on Saturday, January 20th in Ottawa. Tickets are $25.

Muslim Link interviewed the organizers to explore how this is an ideal event to connect Somali students, young professionals, and non-Somalis who want to learn more about the Somali community.

On November 25th, the Muslim Coordinating Council of the National Capital Region (MCC-NCR) organized a Unity Dinner at Sir John A. Macdonald Building for the leaders of Muslim community organizations. Over 310 Muslim leaders, people of diverse faiths, academics, government leaders and the media who attended the first joint dinner of Muslim organizations on Parliament Hill.

On December 15th 2017, friends and supporters held a vigil at Dundas Square to mark the one year anniversary of Soleiman Faqiri’s death. This vigil was organized to honour and commemorate Soleiman and call for justice, transparency, accountability and most of all reform in Ontario’s correctional services.

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."

Members of Edmonton's Al Rashid Youth Club, based in North America's oldest mosque, raised $10,000 for the Bissell Centre's annual New Year's Day Dinner.

“The feeling of unity and brotherhood was undeniable,” said Amani Ali, president of the Ahlul Bayt Student Association (ABSA).

Over the weekend students from the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and Algonquin College, joined together to volunteer at the “In from the cold” event held at Parkdale United Church. The event is held every Saturday through the winter months, to not only feed the hungry and the homeless but also in hopes of “bringing a smile to their face” and “making them feel less alone” according to Gary Crocker, church coordinator.

Human Concern International (HCI) is excited to be part of the Canadian Government's matching program to provide relief to the Rohingya.

And today for Giving Tuesday HCI is proud to partner with Halal Socks. 

Please purchase socks for all your family and friends from www.halalsocks.com today and HCI will receive donations for Rohingya Refugees.