Manitoba Muslim Community faces challenge of rising Islamophobia

Manitoba Islamic Association, MIA – Winnipeg in partnership with Bilal Masjid and CMWI hosting an event to remember #OurLondonFamily with guest speakers who will have a conversation on Islamophobia. The conversation on how Islamophobia affects our community and country and how we can all play a role in dismantling it and other forms of prejudice and hate.

The Nineteenth episode of "Civic Platform" features Tasneem Vali, Vice-Chair, Manitoba Islamic Association, MIA – Winnipeg. Vali speaks to Zuher Almusre about the importance of holding these meetings to protect the Islamic community from Islamophobia.

Zuher also spoke with Monia Mazigh, Author and Human Rights Activist.
Mazigh is born in Tunisia. She is fluent in Arabic, French and English and holds a doctorate in finance from McGill University. Mr. Mazigh worked at the University of Ottawa and taught finance at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. She served as the National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

Mazigh was catapulted into the public eye in 2002 when her husband Maher Arar was deported to Syria where he was tortured and held without charge for over a year. During this time, she campaigned vigorously for her husband's release and then fought to restore his reputation and demanded reparations. In January 2007, after a lengthy public inquiry, her husband finally received a formal apology from the Canadian government.

Her fourth book, Farida, received the City of Ottawa Book Award in 2021.

Mazigh is an Adjunct and Research Professor at Carleton University in the Department of English and Literature. She is working on a memoir/essay about gendered Islamophobia in Canada that will be published in 2023.

Contact Zuher Almusre, our civic journalist, to share your story and explore civic issues at zuheralmusre@u-channel.ca.
Stay tuned for more Civic discussions on Civic Platform.

The project is funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).