Published: 169 days ago
" The discussions made it clear that Muslim and Jewish women face similar issues and have the same yearning for peace, advancement, fairness in society and in our mosques and synagogues, security for our families, human rights, justice, and obtaining a work-life balance.
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By Anela Jadunandan and Tahmena Bokhari
The 2nd Women’s Multi-Faith Symposium in cooperation with the Weekend of Twinning of Synagogues and Mosques was held at the Multi-faith Centre at the University of Toronto this past weekend. The gathering was part of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding’s “twinning” project bringing together Muslim and Jewish congregations and organizations to share each other’s traditions and address common issues.
The GTA’s Muslim and Jewish women chose to be active participants and not be left out of these phenomena sweeping the global community. The exciting day-long event brought together over 25 women leaders who wanted to listen, learn, share, enhance and build on the strength of religious diversity to empower each other.
It was quite heartening to see Muslim and Jewish women, young and old, hijab and non-hijab wearers, and of various ethnicities, discussing ways to tackle obstacles and issues such as violence against women, racism, poverty and raising a family.
The discussions made it clear that Muslim and Jewish women face similar issues and have the same yearning for peace, advancement, fairness in society and in our mosques and synagogues, security for our families, human rights, justice, and obtaining a work-life balance.
Listening to well-known panelists such as Karen Mock (Educational psychologist and Human Rights Consult) and Samira Kanji (CEO and President of the Noor Cultural Centre), made us realize how much common ground we share.
The Noor Cultural Centre and Sr. Samira have been involved with the Twinning of Mosques and Synagogues for all its four years, and with the Multifaith women's symposium both times it's been organized, including in an organizing capacity this time.
Barbara Landau, Psychologist, Lawyer and Mediator spoke about Jewish struggles in the 1930’s and the history of women’s advancements since then. Some of the Muslim women coming from more recent immigrant waves noted that much of what we as Canadians think we have already addressed are issues still impacting many of us.
Kathleen Wynne, Municipal Affairs Minister, spoke about respect, tolerance and understanding one another. She emphasized the importance of “human qualities” that will pave the way for better inter-faith relationships and passing the torch to the younger generation.
Nuzhat Jafri, Executive Director of the Office of the Fairness Commissioner facilitated the workshop session which came up with Action Items that will allow the team to go beyond just merely verbalizing. Since the theme of the event was coined “Sharing our History – Shaping our Future” attendees were asked to write down their hopes and expectations for the future. Some of the ideas proposed from the group ranged from teaching children in schools about violence against women to helping newcomers to Canada integrate socially and culturally.
Sr. Wahida Valiante, Chair and National President, Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC); Chair, Islamic History Month Canada, and Sr. Anela Jadunandan, Community Development Worker, delighted the audience when they announced that the GTA Imams and Muslim Leaders have released
a media Declaration on the Eradication of Domestic Violence and that Imams will be giving sermons on the topic on Friday, December 9th at their respective mosques. Many attendees asked to see what the
“Declaration” looked like and were heartened to know that Imams are taking a lead role in this initiative.
To help spread the word and educate non-Muslims on the topic, Sr. Valiante was invited to attend the YWCA event on December 6, at their ROSE Campaign where there will be commemorating the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.
The group is set to meet at the end of January 2012, to follow up and discuss any accomplishments. A Facebook site has also been created at:
http://www.facebook.com/EradicateDomesticViolence. Please go and “Like” our site.
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5 Comments
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Ali
81 days ago
0 Takbeers
I have known of Ms. Bokhari's advocacy in the community for a long time. It is nice to see young women like her who are so vocal and firm about creating change.
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Anela
168 days ago
0 Takbeers
One of the good things about this event was to let the Jewish women know that Muslims are doing something about the so called "Honour Killings" that took place in Kingston. They kept asking "What are the Imams doing about this?". They cheered loudly when we told them that many Imams around the GTA and beyond are against this act and that Dec 9th Khutbas (sermons) will be focussing on this topic. Educating that crowd in itself was a bonus. More Muslims need to be educated on this and then to pass on that knowledge to others.
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Gail Sharpe
168 days ago
0 Takbeers
This is wonderful news Anela, understanding and communicating is the only way to move forward. thank you!
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Anela
167 days ago
0 Takbeers
Hey Gail, It's nice to know that a Pickering Baseball Assoc. member is reading our stories. Proud to be a Muslim and proud to be a good citizen of this great country :)
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Saima
169 days ago
0 Takbeers
This is really great. Women need to be more at the forefront when it comes to faith-initiatives.
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