John Baird said:

For every eligible donation by individual Canadians to Canadian registered charities and earmarked for efforts to assist Pakistan relief efforts, Canada will contribute an equivalent amount to the Pakistan Floods Relief Fund

Baird said Canada’s contribution to relief efforts places it fifth on the list of international donors. The latest United Nations estimates suggest the floods have killed nearly 2,000 people, rendered six million Pakistanis homeless, and directly affected more than 22 million citizens. The floods are estimated to have affected a fifth of Pakistan’s total land area.

Visitors will be able to browse and buy Turkish products, souvenirs and handcrafts, participate in activities for children, view many authentic demonstrations and performances, sample Turkish cuisine, and do much, much more at the Festival.

Following is the schedule of a various number of activities of the Ottawa Turkish Festival 2010:
Flag Raising Ceremony
Noon – 1 p.m.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Ottawa Police Headquarters
474 Elgin Street

Festival Opening Gala
3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Ottawa City Hall
110 Laurier Avenue West

Festival Grounds
Noon – 9 p.m.
Saturday, July 24 &
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Confederation Park
Ottawa

Click here for more information about the Ottawa Turkish Festival 2010.

Mr. Almrei, 36, came to Canada in January, 1999, on a false United Arab Emirates passport and attained refugee status the next year.

Judge Mosley said there were reasonable grounds to believe Mr. Almrei was a security danger when he was detained just after the Sept. 11 attacks – but none now.

The suit names the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. It claims damages for alleged breaches including negligent investigation, false imprisonment, abuse of public office, defamation and violations of Charter of Rights guarantees.

He’s dismayed he hasn’t received any kind of apology from the government, and says a successful suit would help wipe away any lingering stigma.

“Just acknowledge what happened to me.”

Source: The Globe and Mail

I am sure we all Muslims are aware of the Hadith about building a masjid which states “Whoever builds a masjid, desiring thereby Allāh’s pleasure, Allāh builds for him the like of it in paradise.”

Why not grab this golden opportunity and buy a brick for only $20 each and take part in Jami Omar building project. You never know this small good deed may become the one that save us from the Hell fire on the day of Judgment.

Click Here to Support and Buy a Brick for Jami Omar.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay outlined the new focus for the expected 2,000 Canadian troops, who will be positioned in Jacmel, a town of about 40,000 on Haiti’s southern coast. Canada’s Governor-General Michaëlle Jean’s family has strong roots in that community, which was virtually isolated from the rest of Haiti by recent earthquake.

The other area of concentration is a town west of Port-au-Prince, Leogane, where the quake hit hardest. The Canadian troops will provide everything from engineering support to clean water and medical aid. Three mobile purification plants will be on the ground in Haiti and can provide up to 36,000 gallons of clean water every day.

Canada has also announced expedited immigration process for the family members of the Canadians in Haiti as well as the adopted children. Canadians wishing to sponsor their family members are advised to write Haiti on the envelope before sending to Canadian Immigration Center. However, members of Montreal’s Haitian community said that Canada is not doing enough to help Haitians leave their earthquake-ravaged homeland

Canadian also raised over $125,000 through text messaging donations through their cellphones. The major cellphone carriers waived off the normal text messaging fee ($0.15) for this purpose.

“In a way, this is the worst day of my life. ,My father was a fragile man to begin with. He was a workaholic. He didn’t believe in taking rests,” said Rashad’s eldest son, Abdul Hakim Moalimishak.

The family is still waiting to learn the cause of Rashad’s death, but Moalimishak said he might have died from liver or stomach problems. However, he did not have any serious medical conditions that his family was aware of.

This is the second tragedy to hit the family since the summer. In September, one of Rashad’s daughters died after a fall in Ottawa. Rashad is survived by four other daughters and four sons.

People at the Assalam Mosque described Rashad as a highly educated, selfless and very compassionate man who had publicly lobbied for the release of journalist Amanda Lindhout, who was taken hostage in Somalia in August 2008. Lindhout was released just this Wednesday.

“All his work was charity for Islam,” said Sammaer Gebara. “[He] never took wages, never took money from the mosque.”

Ahmed Hassam, vice-president of the mosque, said the congregation would pray for Rashad on Friday. He offered his condolences to Rashad’s family, friends and the entire community.
Source: CBC.ca

Ottawa Muslims have lost one of the most prominent figures in the Islamic Da’wah and work in the community. May Allah grant his family and Muslim community patience.May Allah grant Sheikh Mohamed Rashad forgiveness, mercy and highest place in Jannat Alferdous.

I do beleive that their resignation is not going to make things better, it is only going to provide more material to other communities to laugh at Muslims.  I would like to emphasise here that individual personalities are not important for the well being of the community, it is combined effort of all the individual Muslims that can create harmony and strength in community.  Finger pointing never works, only deeds generate good results.

Here is the letter from the trustees who resigned and was circulated to community members. 

Friday, May 8th, 2009.
Dear Brothers and Sisters:

AOA; as the Chairman of the OMA Council of Trustees, I would like to thank you for providing us the privilege of serving our community. Since our election over a year ago, we have been carrying out the duties of trustees as mandated by the OMA Constitution and OMA Trust Deed.

Today, I would like to share with you our utter disappointment and our inability to morally and constitutionally discharge our duties as trustees without causing serious divisions in the community.

As you know, the Imam issue has caused serious divisions in our community. To resolve these differences, the Board of Directors had passed a resolution to address the Imam issue on June 7, 2009 in a Special general Body meeting. This information was posted on the OMA website, communicated to the general membership and it was announced in the Citizen, a local newspaper. Further, it was made known that the issue of the Imam would not be on the Annual General Meeting Agenda but would be dealt with specifically at the June 7th, 2009 Special General Meeting. 

To our dismay, at the annual general meeting of April 26, 2009, the President allowed motions regarding the Imam issue from the floor and some decisions were made in this regard. We had advised the President at several occasions before the annual general meeting that the discussion of the Imam issue at the annual general meeting would be in clear violation of the OMA Constitution, since this information was not shared with all members in the notice of annual general meeting. Unfortunately, we were unable to convince the President.

This deliberate violation of the OMA constitution has created serious differences between the President and the majority of the trustees which would adversely affect the functioning of the Association. To uphold the integrity of the OMA Constitution and in the greater interest of the community, five trustees have decided to resign to lodge a formal protest against the deliberate violation of OMA Constitution by the President. These trustees who have decided to resign include: Fazl Khan (Chairman of Trust), Ghassan Akrouche (Secretary of Trust), Muazzam Orakzai (Treasurer of Trust), Sarwar Gilani and Zahur Hussain. After these five resignations, the remaining three elected trustees do not constitute a quorum and therefore they alone would not be able to function as a Council. Under such circumstances, the Trust Deed requires that election should be held to replace the five resigning trustees. Therefore, I am asking the President to make arrangements for election of five new trustees as soon as possible.

With the resignation of these Trustees and the previous resignations of the Chairman of the Joint Committee and the Treasure of the Board, the Joint Committee will have lost 5 of its 7 memberships; and as such it too would not be able function as the Joint Committee.

The OMA executive has lost confidence in the OMA Board. It would be in the interest of the community to ask the President to call for general elections of the Board of Directors to seek a new mandate from the general membership.

I am sorry that we were not able to complete the mandate given to us by the general membership. However, we ask for your forgiveness as this was the only viable option open to us to uphold the integrity of the OMA Constitution and to minimize further divisions in our community.

Once again, we are grateful to you for your support and guidance and hope that you would understand our position.

Wassalam:
Fazl Khan
Sarwar Gilani
Ghassan Akrouche
Muazzam Orakzai
Zahur Hussain

Nobody doubts that he is a very knowledgeable person, however, there are people who are opposing him as Imam because he cannot speak English the way they speak it. He contributed to LinkMuslims.com by writing Moral Corruption – ‘Youth and Sex’.

Due to strong opposition from the minority but outspoken group at Ottawa Mosque, Imam Khaled Sayed may be leaving for Egypt soon.

The reality is that Ottawa Muslim Association tried for over eighteen months to find a homegrown Imam but had to request Egypt after failed attempts to find one.  Once the decision was made to appoint present Imam, he should be allowed to complete his term.  He has some language problem and I am sure that he is trying his best to overcome that barrier to communicate with young Muslims who may just come to Mosque only once a week.

I would request Ottawa Muslims Association and all those Muslims who are opposing Imam Khaled Sayed to let him finish his term. Honouring the contracts is also part of Muslim faith then why not let him complete his contractual term as Imam at Ottawa Mosque.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will provide $441,000 dollars for My Canada, a project that provides access to multi-faith sessions for both Muslim and non-Muslim youth in schools and community centres.

“This project demonstrates the importance of promoting common understanding and mutual respect — the basic building blocks to achieve peace and stability here in Canada and elsewhere in the world,” says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

As for the other project, the Status of Women Canada group will provide $314,000 dollars for Being a Canadian Muslim Woman in the 21st Century. With this initiative, women will be able to discuss discrimination, violence and human rights.

Both projects will be coordinated by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. Alia Hogben, Executive Director of the Canadian Council for Muslim Women said:

“We are grateful for the funding, which will assist us to foster Canadian Muslim youth’s active engagement and participation so that they can develop their sense of identity and sense of belonging. This will be achieved by their involvement in their local communities with other youth of different religions and cultural backgrounds.”

The Canadian Council for Muslim Women is a national non-profit organization of women committed to the equality, equity and empowerment of Muslim women.

According to latest figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association, the housing prices across Canada has dropped by 11 per cent since May 2008.

The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals predicts mortgage approval activity to fall nearly 12 per cent to $193 billion in 2008, compared to $218 billion in 2007. Approvals are forecast to fall another 10 per cent to $174 billion in 2009 and another 1.6 per cent in 2010 to $171 billion. That follows a growth rate of about 11.5 per cent annually for the three years ended August 2008.

The puncturing of housing bubble and start of recession in Canada, there is not going to be much activity in housing market either from buyers are sellers. The housing market may recover by the end of 2009 but home owners may not expect new housing boom in near future, at least not in 2009.