IQRA

Don’t Judge others by what they look like, Lieutenant Governor

(Toronto, ON) - Changing our attitude is the key to providing greater accessibility to the disabled, Ontario's Lieutenant Governor David Onley told a gathering hosted by the Canadian Association of Muslims with Disabilities (CAMD) on Sunday, May 24.

 

"It means that we must not form value judgments based on what a person looks like," he said. "I'm sure it has happened to many of you and it has happened to me. It's not pleasant and in many cases its hurtful."

 

Onley who is the first Lieutenant Governor in Ontario with a disability, has overcome challenges associated with polio and post-polio syndrome, including paralysis.

 

Rabia Khedr, CAMD’s Executive Director, said the Symposium was organized to, "bring families, community leaders and community members together to talk about planning for the future of people with disabilities and their families as they're aging."

 

The Planning for the Future: Disability Rights & Responsibilities Symposium was held at the ISNA Islamic Centre in Mississauga. 

 

The day-long planning symposium included presentations by Abdalla Idris Ali and Shahina Siddiqui, a video presentation, and workshops.

 

The event was an opportunity for families, service providers and community leaders to network and discuss issues around disabilities and it concluded with the launch of the CAMD Family Support Network.

 

The Symposium was funded by the Olive Tree Foundation as “we feel that CAMD is providing an important service to the Muslim community,” said Muneeb Nasir, the Foundation’s President.

 

The Lieutenant Governor told the audience of how our attitude to disabilities can lead to exclusion.

 

He said that an employer who rejected an applicant because he or she had one leg, may have rejected Terry Fox; if the employer rejected someone in a wheelchair, they would have rejected Rick Hansen and if the employer rejected someone who needs a computer to speak for him or her, the employer would have rejected Stephen Hawking.

 

Our Imam Problem

By Muneeb Nasir

The Canadian Muslim community continues to agonize over their religious leaders.

In a recent study done by Karim H. Karim for the Institute for Research on Public Policy, he found that Muslims in Canada and other Western countries “seek religious leadership that can guide them as they navigate spiritual and worldly matters in a knowledgeable and insightful manner. They expect their imam to have not only an intellectually sophisticated understanding of Islamic sources but also a keen appreciation of the Western contexts in which they are living.”

Very recently, the congregation of the main mosque in Ottawa, the Ottawa Muslim Association, has been caught up in a debate around such issues as a result of the choice of a new Imam.
 
The Imam, who was brought in from Al Azhar University in Egypt, is being criticized by segments of the community for his communication skills, his lack of experience and familiarity with Canadian social conditions.
 
The debate has become very public with the articles being written in the local press and even eliciting an editorial in the Ottawa Citizen.

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