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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.
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.
Modest Muslimah is crowdfunding to make their programs accessible to all young Muslim women. Muslim Link spoke with Nayaelah Abdussamad Sedeke about how she has created a space to empower and inspire Muslim women in Ottawa. A student at the University of Ottawa and an aspiring entrepreneur, Nayaelah co-founded Modest Muslimah to fill a social gap she and her sister identified.
History is replete with Muslims who, over the course of history, have had an irreversible effect on civilization as we know it. The accomplishments of Muslim scholars in the fields of arts, math, and science are well known by many Muslims and non-Muslims.
This year a gala will be held to celebrate and reward achievements in the Canadian Muslim community. The inaugural edition of the Muslim Awards of Excellence or MAX Gala will showcase top achievers within the Canadian Muslim community and Canadian community at large.
In early December, local imams, along with other faith leaders, attended a workshop at the South Nepean Muslim Community (SNMC) mosque exploring the intersection of mental illness and the law. The workshop was presented by Connecting Ottawa as part of The Spirit of the Law, a provincial project run by Interfaith Initiatives for Civic Engagement (IICE) and funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario. The project aims to work with faith communities to ensure that people living with mental illness who come in to conflict with the law can receive support by ensuring that faith communities and legal professionals are taking a holistic approach to their care.
People in Ottawa are very generous and have collected tons of clothes, furniture, and household items for refugees coming to the city. But all this generosity has created a problem, where to store all this stuff, particularly as many refugees will not be in a postition to accept these items until they are properly settled in the city.
The Keep Them Warm - Holiday Initiative was started by Jenan Dayfallah, a student at Carleton University. Her many encounters with people concerned about homelessness in our community inspired her to take to social media and create the project. Asking for anyone who wanted to make a difference to join her, the response was outstanding and a group of 15 came together to form Keep Them Warm.
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