Herongate is located where Heron Rd emerges from Walkley Rd in Ottawa’s southeast. It is the most diverse neighbourhood in Ottawa. It is also one of the poorest. The neighbourhood has a significantly large and multigenerational Muslim community.

The north side of Herongate is owned almost entirely by one company, Timbercreek. The Toronto-based corporation acquired housing in the Herongate area in 2012 and 2013.Many tenants feel that Timbercreek has purposefully neglected the houses in Herongate because they knew they intended to evict the tenants, demolish the houses, and build housing that is targeted towards higher income tenants. Explore this process of neglect in pictures online here.

In 2016, Muslim Link was asked to help Ottawa transit user Hailey DeJong find the OC Transpo bus driver who stood up for her when she was verbally attacked for wearing niqab by another passenger while on his bus. She had managed to get a selfie with him, but had not taken his name and she wanted to make sure that OC Transpo knew how much she appreciated his support.

A Nikah – an Islamic marriage contract – has to fulfil certain requirements to be considered binding under Islamic law, one of which is the Mahr. A Mahr is a sum of money, jewelry, or any other valuable assets that is given by the groom to the wife as security in case of a breakdown in their relationship or death of the husband. The amount specified in the marriage contract and/or the property to be gifted may vary depending on many things, including the wealth of the groom. That gift becomes the wife’s exclusive property.

Several Muslim Canadians are running for all three major political parties for the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election. 

Muslim Link feels our readers would benefit from learning more about each of these candidates. We have included links to the candidate's websites and social media where available.

Muslim Welfare Centre and Project Ramadan came to Ottawa on April 22nd to work in partnership with the Ottawa Food Bank to build over 100 food baskets with the help of local volunteers and city officials, including Mayor Jim Watson.

Being ME (Muslimah Empowered) Conference will be taking place on Saturday, May 5th at the Telus Convention Centre. There has also been a bus organized to bring women from Edmonton to the conference.

On April 25, four young Somali Canadian researchers launched the report "Another Day, Another Janazah", about the disproportionately high homicide rates among young Somali men in Ontario.

As Youth LEAPS Executive Director Liban Abokar, states "I'm moved by the attendance here today. For those policy makers in the room, I ask you to look around, the attendance today signals that the issue we are here to discuss is not one that has defeated us, but one that has actually galvanized us to action."

Somali Canadian Habiba Ali's encore performance of the third installment of her series of plays starting the character Hawa Haji,"An Immigrant's Tale".

You can check out the play on Saturday, April 28 at 6pm at Woodroffe High School, for details click here.

Authors to Check Out At The Ottawa International Writers Festival (OIWF). The theme of this year's Ottawa International Writers Festival is "A Diversity of Perspectives"

Muslim Link would like to highlight some authors we think are exploring issues that are relevant to Muslims in Canada, particularly Muslims in Ottawa-Gatineau.

Canada Zakat, Islamic Relief Canada, Human Concern International, ICNA Relief Canada, and IDRF are raising funds for the victims of the horrific Toronto van attack that took place on April 23 at Yonge and Finch.