Transplant: Patient and Donors Stories took place on April 1st to mark the beginning of Ontario’s Organ Donation Month. During this month, the Trillium Gift of Life Network, (a non-profit agency of the Government of Ontario) responsible for facilitating organ and tissue donation and transplantation across Ontario, tries to raise public awareness about the urgent need for people to register to be organ donors. The event was spearheaded by Erica Bregman, a volunteer with the Trillium Gift of Life Network and supported by the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), whose VP, Maher Jebara, hosted the event. Several religious leaders such as Reverend Anthony Bailey, Imam Mohamad Jebara, and Rabbi Reuben Bulka, as well as leaders within Ottawa’s Sikh community, spoke out in order to dispel myths that might exist within their respective faith communities that organ donation is not religiously permitted. But those in attendance were most moved by the presentations of organ donors and transplant recipients like Somali-Canadian Hiba Yusuf.

On March 23rd, the Canada-Pakistan Association (CPA) held their annual Jeeway Pakistan (Long Live Pakistan) Mela in honour of Pakistan Day. Pakistan Day is held on March 23rdto commemorate the Lahore Resolution of 1940 by the All-India Muslim League, whose leader at the time was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah is sometimes referred to by Pakistanis' as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader). The Resolution established the boundaries of the state which would become Pakistan after British India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

"You never really know the impact of a person until they are taken away," said Wader Jemmie, sister of Jabeir Jemmie. Jabeir, at 21, became Ottawa's fourth homicide victim this year; a crime which remains unsolved.

The Iraqi Students' Association of Carleton University (ISACU) partnered with local Muslim charity Human Concern International (HCI) to organize a community BBQ on Sept. 28th at Britannia Park to raise funds for Iraqi refugees.
The organizers made it clear in their messaging that funds would go to Iraqi refugees, irrespective of religion or ethnicity. This message resonated with Ottawa's Iraqi community who are made up of Arabs and Kurds, Sunni and Shia Muslims, as well as Christians.

Edmontonian Spoken Word poet Nasra Adem was in Ottawa in August to perform in the Artistic Showcase of the Youth Can Slam National Youth Poetry Festival. But she’s no stranger to the Nation’s Capital. “That was like 10 years of my life!” Nasra, who’s only 20, exclaimed.

When Marwan Abdalla began planning the first Palestinian Festival in Ottawa, there was one thing he was certain of, “We are having it at City Hall!” Fortunately, the city was receptive and the festival will be taking place in Marion Dewar Park, adjacent to City Hall, from August 29th to 31st. Mayor Jim Watson will even be opening the event with an inaugural speech.

Toronto’s Muslim fashionistas will be converging on the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on August 23d and 24th to take part in the city’s first International Muslim Fashion and Design Festival (IMFDF).

Although the event will bring together some of the world’s Muslim fashion royalty with an array of leading designers, models, bloggers and YouTube hijab tutorial celebrities, time is also being prioritized to provide educational opportunities on issues like fair trade and ethical consumerism.

Muslim Link got a chance to interview University of Ottawa’s Muslim Students’ Association (UOMSA) Executives Mahmoud Dief (President) and Shahad Khalladi (Vice-President) about their upcoming UOMSA 101 Week for new and returning Muslim students which will run from Monday September 1st to Sunday September 7th.

Muslim Link caught up with 17 year old Palestinian spoken word poet Haneen Al-Hassoun aka Freedom Writer as she prepares to compete in this week’s Youth Can Slam National Youth Poetry Festival.

Canada’s most famous Palestinian resident, University of Toronto Professor Izzeldin Abuelaish, has been tirelessly working to demand an end to the current conflict that is costing the lives of so many civilians in Gaza, his homeland.

Dr. Abuelaish knows firsthand the crushing loss that these conflicts bring to ordinary Gazan families. When an Israeli missile crashed through his house his three daughters and niece were killed in Gaza in 2009. But Dr. Abuelaish vowed not to hate and wrote a memoir, ‘I Shall Not Hate’, calling for an end to the occupation and the hatred between Israelis and Palestinians that he saw as responsible for the death of his family members.