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 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.

Inspired by a recent Letter to the Editor, I have decided to share some reflections on why we need to make it easier to talk about suicide in our communities.

Muslim Link ran into popular comedian Baba Ali at this year’s I.LEAD Conference. Although well known for his comedy and children’s programming, Baba Ali also works on the very serious issue of Muslims and Marriage. He runs the matrimonial site “Half our Deen” aimed at helping Muslims find the right match. We interviewed him about why he set up the website and the challenges he is seeing among Muslims when it comes to having healthy marriages.

This article is a first in a series of interviews Muslim Link is conducting with Muslim children in Ottawa. Ottawa’s Muslim community is quite young but we often do not get an opportunity to hear the thoughts and opinions of this significant demographic on social problems in our society.

Sheikh Daood Butt will be speaking at the I.LEAD Conference on April 16th. Sheikh Butt received his B.A. in Da'wah and Usool ad-Deen from the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, he received the Imam of the Year Award at MuslimFest from DawaNet. Born and raised in Montreal to a Pakistani father and Portuguese mother, the married father of two currently lives and teaches in Mississauga, but often travels internationally to speak on Islam.

Palestine Canadian Nour Ahram is a creative juggernaut. She is a professional animator and photographer who also dabbles in graphic design and Islamic calligraphy.

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.

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 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.