News

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. 

Rohingya Canadian youth, many of whom came as refugees to Canada, have been taking the lead in pushing for justice for their people in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Rallies, fundraisers, and awareness raising events have been organized across Canada, often with young members of Canada's Rohingya community participating as speakers.

Rohingya youth, some members of the team originally involved in creating the play I Am Rohingya, co-founded the Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative, an organization which has been meeting with goverment officials in Canada and abroad to raising awareness about the plight of the Rohingya.

On November 5, 2017, Padre Ryan Carter, a chaplain with the Royal Military College (RMC), organized a pre-Remembrance Day service at the RMC in Kingston, honouring the first Muslim to die serving in the Canadian Armed Forces in World War 1.

Silk Road Institute in partnership with the Michaëlle Jean Foundation presents "Combating Hate, Advancing Inclusion: A National Forum", Saturday November 18 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in Ottawa at allsaints 10 Blackburn Avenue.

Be part of this urgent conversation on leveraging the power of youth, arts, and digital technology to combat hate in Canada while advancing the full inclusion of diverse Muslim communities.

Tickets: Free, including artistic workshops, light breakfast, lunch, and snacks. 

Register to attend online HERE

November 15, 2017

On December 4th 2016 Soleiman Faqiri was temporarily housed at the Central East Correctional Centre (CECC) in Lindsay Ontario while awaiting a bed at the Ontario Shores Centres for mental health. Eleven days following that, on December 15 2016, Soleiman was killed by guards after they had applied force on him.  The Corners report showed that Soleiman has sustained 50 injuries on his body; a significant number of which were due to blunt impact trauma. 

The Canadian Association of Muslim Women in Law (CAMWL) is dismayed at the recent passage of Bill 62: “An Act Respecting Religious Neutrality”, by the Liberal Government of Quebec. The law discriminatorily targets Muslim women who wear face veils. It prohibits public servants (including health care professionals, teachers and daycare employees) who wear the niqab from providing services to the public, and prevents veiled Muslim women from receiving provincial and municipal public services (including riding the bus, visiting the library and seeing a doctor).

CAMWL condemns this legislation as both discriminatory and unconstitutional for the following reasons:

The following is a statement from the Justice for Soli coalition after learning that the Kawartha Lakes Police Service will not be pressing charges against those responsible for the death of Soleiman Faqiri.

Readers should know that this is the second time that a Muslim coping with schizophrenia has died after spending time in the Lindsay Detention Centre. The first was Somali refugee Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, who died in a Peterborough Hospital. Hassan was under indefinite immigrantion detention at Lindsay. Fellow immigration detention inmates went on hunger strike to demand an inquest into his death.