• Ontario Rights Body Criticizes Maclean's for Islamophobic Article
A Canadian magazine article suggesting Muslims pose a threat to North America and Europe is Islamophobic and "promotes prejudice towards Muslims," the Ontario Human Rights Commission says.

• Crown Frees Four in Terror Case
The Crown has effectively dropped charges against four adult suspects in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case, sending the strongest signal yet that the portion of the case dealing with an alleged terror training camp is much weaker than first believed.

• For Muslim Poor, a Shameful Admission
On the corner of Dundas and Chestnut Sts., Ahmed dumps a handful of pennies and quarters on the sidewalk, and begins counting his day's earnings."Asalamu alakum, can you spare some change?" he shyly asks two men.

• The Incredible Shrinking Terror Case
Once labelled Canada's first homegrown, Islamist terror plot, the case of the so-called Toronto 18 is quietly melting away.With yesterday's decision to stay charges against four more of those that it had once labelled dangerous terrorists…

• Qualities of an Exemplary Leader
Leaders who are fair and gentle attract talented individuals, while those that are harsh are usually intimidated and threatened by talented people and generally repulse them. Their insecurity is sensed by talented people who are secure within themselves.

• “We should be Partial on the Side of Justice”
Much of the Middle East is reported like a football match: this side did this, they kicked a goal, they replied back, the ball went through the goal post, etc. Giving equal space in your report to two antagonists is ridiculous!

• Influencing Culture Change
On studying History, we see that everywhere Islam spread, it exerted a stimulating influence on the local culture. Islam revitalized life in a dying urban center like Constantinople by providing new civic norms and social relationships enabling people to cope with the urgent problems of city life.

• The Danger of Self-Justification
All of us – to a greater or lesser extent – have a tendency to justify and rationalize our mistakes. It is part of our mindset that makes us try to flee from criticism and from having to make amends.

Truly Muslim, Truly Canadian
by Shahina Siddiqui, CAIR-CAN Board Member

At a recent invitation to speak on Islam and Muslims, I was confronted with what I thought at the time to be an odd question. A woman in the audience in tone off sheer impatience asked me, "Why can't you just be a Canadian?" A little confused I responded, "I am a Canadian." She retorted, "No you are not, you keep talking about being a Muslim."