News

Muslim Family Services of Ottawa (MFSO) in partnership with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) and CAS Friends is once again hoping to raise funds from local Muslims for their annual Eid al Adha Lamb Project.

Al-Hamdu Lillah with the support of the community, SNMC donated $14,500 on Friday July 28, 2017 for BC Fire victims. 

With the government matching our donation, a grand total of $29,000 will be donated for BC Wildfire Relief efforts.

The following is a statement from the family of Soleiman Faqiri after learning new details surrounding his death.

MuslimFest is back for another year, taking place from August 4th to 6th in Mississauga's Celebration Square.

The annual Muslim Arts Festival is the largest of its kind in North America, attracting over 30,000 attendes annually.

Festival and Events Ontario selected MuslimFest as one of the best festivals in Ontario in 2016.

Launched in 2004, MuslimFest is a joint project of DawaNet and Sound Vision. Offering a mix of music, comedy, spoken word, visual art, theatre and workshops on a diversity of topics, along with fun activities for children and a multicultural bazaar, MuslimFest showcases the talent of a diveristy of Muslim artists from Canada and around the world.

Muslim Link interviewed MuslimFest's Event Director Tariq Syed about why folks should visit Mississauga this weekend to check out this year's festival.

Like all of the victims of the Quebec mosque shooting, Mamadou Barry's death not only impacted his family, it crushed the dream of access to clean drinking water for his village in the West African country of Guinea. Barry was raising funds to install a 100-meter-deep well in his village, located outside of Labe, Guinea's second-largest city.

Have you ever noticed how acts of hate can spur acts of love? With the establishment of the Toronto chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, thirty-four Muslim and Jewish women have come together to support each other against hostile acts directed toward both groups. One of the Sisterhood’s largest chapters and the first chapter in Canada, the Toronto group meets regularly to talk, share rituals, and to build relationships across religious lines.

This year Canada Pakistan Association of the National Capital Region (CPA) celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday on Sunday, July 2nd, 2017 at the Ron Kolbus Lakeshore Centre, 102 Greenview Ave, Ottawa.

STANDING TOGETHER: Community gathers to remember Abdirahman Abdi, one year after his tragic death.

(Ottawa, ON): July 24th, 2017 marks one year since the death of Abdirahman Abdi. The Ottawa community will gather in Somerset Square Park for an interfaith event entitled: Standing Together to remember Abdirahman Abdi and to show solidarity with the family of a man whose life was unjustly taken in our city.

The I.LEAD conference is back for a fifth year and will take place on Saturday, July 15th. Tickets can be purchased online here.

Muslim Link interviewed the I.LEAD organizers about what people could look forward to at this year's conference.

TorontoMuslims, a project of the Muslim Canadian non-profit organization Dawanet, launched a brand new environmental campaign aimed at promoting sustainable practices within Mosques and Islamic centres. #WasteFreeRamadan has distributed 10,000 free Eco-friendly reusable drinking containers across Muslim places of worship. Participating Masjids have discouraged salat-goers from bringing disposable plastic bottles, instead opting for the colourful range of BPA-free bottles provided by the campaign.

Select foodora restaurant partners to deliver ‘Break Your Fast’ packs with every order placed at dusk.

Canadian Muslims will observe Ramadan beginning Saturday, May 27 through to Monday, June 26, and on-demand food delivery service foodora will help customers identify halal food options by adding a halal symbol to select restaurant partners on its website and app. Throughout Ramadan, foodora will provide its users with a complimentary ‘Break Your Fast with foodora’ pack with every order placed between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. from 39 participating restaurant partners that offer halal options in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Each Ramadan ‘Break Your Fast’ pack will include two 500 mL bottles of Happy Water, and a box of Masa Dates, a traditional custom.

Local Somali Canadian university students have come together to organize a fundraising iftar to raise awareness and money to help people impacted by the drought and famine in Somalia. The iftar takes place on June 7.

We did it! After a very long campaign, we have secured permanent resident status for Dima Siam, who has lived over 30 months under a cruel and heartless Canadian deportation order to Syria based on a minor paperwork error.

Congratulations to Dima, Mohammad Al Rayyan, and your four children. Hundreds of other Syrian refugees remain under deportation order from Canada. We still have so much work to do.
Below is Dima's statement of thanks: 

Local Eritrean Canadians have come together to found Afaagh Association, a Canadian-based registered charitable organization, dedicated to helping the forgotten Eritrean refugees living in Eastern Sudan. On Friday May 19, they had their organizational launch and first fundraising event in Ottawa with Shaykh Abdalla Idris Ali. 

“We [Indigenous Peoples and Muslims] come at life from a place of peace... from a place of honouring and recognizing the importance of our spiritual and religious practices...We have so much in common.” - Elder Joanne Dallaire

Maymuna Mohamed represented the riding of York Centre, Ontario at Equal Voice’s Daughters of the Vote gathering in March, which brought together 338 young women between the ages of 18 and 23, representing each Canadian riding. Muslim Link had the opportunity to interview several of the young Muslim Canadian women who were selected to participate in this historic event, including Maymuna Mohamed.

Afghan Canadian Soleiman Faqiri died in Lindsay Correctional Facility in December 2016. His family wants answers. His brother, Yusuf Faqiri, will be in Ottawa on May 16 to discuss his family's fight for justice.

The Justice For Soli in partnership with Muslim Link and the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project is hosting this event on May 16 at 7pm at the University of Ottawa aimed at engaging people in Soleiman Faqiri's family fight for justice, as well as raising awareness about the crisis within Ontario's correctional facilities, particularly in terms of the treatment of people living with mental illness.

Register to attend the event online here.

Good Samaritans invite Ottawa believers to join us in an Inter-Faith Food Drive to feed the poor and show interfaith solidarity at this time of increased intolerance. Bring some non-perishable food to your place of worship this Mother’s Day weekend as you go to pray. We are asking the place of worship to announce the food drive and deliver the food donations to the Ottawa Mosque parking lot, where volunteers will load it onto trucks for the Ottawa Food Bank.

Neelofer Mansuri represented the riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge, Ontario at Equal Voice’s Daughters of the Vote gathering in March, which brought together 338 young women between the ages of 18 and 23, representing each Canadian riding. Muslim Link had the opportunity to interview several of the young Muslim Canadian women who were selected to participate in this historic event, including Neelofer Mansuri.