News

The National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR) and the Canadian Arab Institute (CAI) are collaborating to host the Diversity in Parliament Reception on Wednesday, May 18th at the City of Ottawa. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and engage with several of the current Arab Canadian Members of Parliament. Retired Senator Pierre De Bané, Canada’s first Arab Member of Parliament, will also be a guest of honour. Proceeds from the event will be going towards scholarships for Syrian newcomers and youth parliamentary internships.

The United Muslim Organizations of Ottawa-Gatineau were able to raise $64,000 in donations for Fort McMurray Fire Relief. Much of these donations came in from the Muslim community at Friday Prayer Services on May 6th. These donations are being channelled through the Canadian Red Cross, so they will be matched dollar for dollar by the Canadian government inshallah.

The team behind Serenity Islamic Mental Health Awareness is organizing a major conference from May 20th to 22nd to destigmatize mental illness within Muslim communities in Ottawa. Subjects that will be discussed during the conference will include depression, suicide, and addiction. “We want to destigmatize the mystery around mental illness and normalize it because it’s there every day,” Berak Hussain, the conference director, stated. Berak, an Iraqi Canadian professional counsellor, works with Carleton University’s Health and Counselling Services, who have endorsed the event.

Students at Maingate Islamic Academy in Mississauga participated in a workshop called The Blanket Exercise, which explores the impact of colonialism on the indigenous peoples of Canada. Student reporters from the school Zaynab Mamai, Sumaya Abdulle, and Dima Traboulsi, with the support of their teacher,  Sanaa Ali-Mohammed, wrote the following article about their experience.

Last year, Haitian Canadian Fatima Estime visited the drought stricken village of Desab in Haiti. The village is facing chronic challenges around accessing clean water. Fatima is now determined to work to help support the village.

Muslim Link interviewed Fatima about her experience in Haiti, including visiting with Haiti's Muslim communities, and her work to collect resources and find sustainable access to clean water for Desab. She hopes to return there this summer.

The I.LEAD Conference returns to Ottawa this Saturday, April 16th. This year’s theme is Living the Legacy: Those Who Believe and Do Righteous Deeds. 

Members of the Pakistani Students Association (PSA) of Carleton and the University of Ottawa organized a vigil on March 29th in honour of the victims of the terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan during Easter Weekend.

Like other communities of diverse faiths, Muslim Canadian have made great contributions to Canadian society. However, focus tends to fall on the association of Muslims with terrorists rather than Muslims as positive community builders and contributors. To turnaround this narrative, a group of Muslim Canadian professionals in Toronto organized the Muslim Awards for Excellence (MAX) Gala on March 24th at the Ritz Carleton to spotlight the achievements of Muslims in Canada.

On February 17th, the Ottawa Hijab Solidarity Day was held at City Hall. The City for All Women Initiative (CAWI) partnered with the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP), and the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres to hold the event.

Muslim Link is proud to be a Silver Sponsor of this year's I.LEAD Conference which is taking place Saturday, April 16 at the EY Centre in Ottawa.

The sponsorship group Refugee SOS were once strangers but they came together with one goal, reuniting a family torn apart by war. They are fundraising to reunite Zarah, a Syrian refugee to Canada, with her sister, who is still a refugee in the Middle East. Both sisters are single mothers. Muslim Link interviewed the group about why they chose to sponsor Zarah’s sister.

Muslim Link had the opportunity to interview Mohammed Al Rayyan and his wife Dima Siam, who is facing deportation to Syria. A petition was launched on March 8th, International Women’s Day, demanding that the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, John McCallum, grant Dima permanent residency. Dima hopes that members of Ottawa's Muslim community would consider supporting her cause and signing the petition.

Healing, Hope and Art is a two part project that provides art therapy for Muslim students and an anti-Islamophobia awareness campaign aimed at engaging the general public. The campaign uses artwork created by students at the therapy sessions. Muslim Link spoke to Farrah Marfatia, Principal of Maingate Islamic Academy in Mississauga, about the project.

The City for All Women Initiative (CAWI), in partnership with the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres, the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP), and the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence against Women (OCTEVAW), are holding Ottawa Hijab Solidarity Day on Thursday, February 25th, from 4pm to 6pm at the City of Ottawa, Councillors’ Lounge, Second Floor.

CBC in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) are once again hosting the Human Library on Saturday, February 27th. The Human Library provides unique opportunities for people curious about a particular life experience to have a chat with a human "book". Several Ottawa Muslims will be on loan this year as "books" at libraries across the city.

Muslim Family Services of Ottawa (MFSO) was recently honoured for their work with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CAS). MFSO has partnered with CAS to address the needs of Muslim children in foster care in the city. Muslim Link interviewed Pakistani Canadian Shawana Shah, MFSO’s CAS Multicultural Liaison Worker, about MFSO’s work and what is needed to better support Muslim children who come into care.

Abraar School is organizing a conference on February 13 for teachers of Arabic as a second language in Ottawa. Muslim Link interviewed Dina Shalabi, the Islamic Studies Coordinator for Abraar School and chair of the conference, about why local Arabic teachers should take advantage of this professional development opportunity.