Starting Friday, the association – which has teamed up with Muslim student associations at Algonquin College and University of Ottawa – is hosting four weekend programs throughout December that deal with Muslim identity.

The first event is called “You as a Muslim in the West.” Tickets for the in-person lecture, which will be held Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at Algonquin College, have already sold out, but organizers say the program will also be available online.

Friday’s lecture explores the experiences and challenges of Muslims in Western societies and how they can thrive while maintaining their Muslim identity. Speaker Abu Umar Abdul Azeez, an international speaker and scholar, will speak about Muslim identity. 

Ali Abdur Raheem, a fourth-year electrical engineering student, said he is not a club member, but he usually participates in its events. He said he benefits from the support the club provides to Muslim students. 

“The safe prayer room at Paterson Hall is one such support,” he said. “We also come together for Jummah (Friday) prayers every week at Norm Fenn Gym.” 

Abdur Raheem said he will attend Friday’s lecture online and added that he and Muslim students come together in the prayer room five times a day, pray and chat with each other. He said that events like “You as a Muslim in the West,” as well as the various other supports offered by the Muslim association on campus, are essential to maintaining a strong sense of identity.

Club member Mariem, who did not want her last name published, said she plans to attend Friday’s lecture. “As an international student, events featuring Muslim academics and speakers raise my awareness of the challenges I face as a Muslim,” said Mariem, who is studying psychology at Carleton University.

Mariem, who also volunteers at some club events, said the club supports the community by providing a safe space. “The association regularly posts on social media, and if you follow its Instagram account, you will be aware of many events related to the Muslim community. We also regularly put up announcement posters on the notice board opposite the prayer room,” she said.

Carleton’s Muslim student association aims to represent Muslim students within the Carleton community, promote civic engagement and organize events and services, according to Ruqiya Ahmed, a spokesperson for the club. It serves the Muslim student community at Carleton by organizing book clubs, travel programs, regular prayer meetings and other forms of support. 

“Support is a key part of community, and we aim to provide it for one another to balance our social and work life,” Ahmed said. “Working with sincere intentions enables us to have what we believe to be blessed and fulfilling experiences.”

Ahmed said she encourages all students who are interested in the upcoming events to register online.

The club is also organizing a bracelet-making workshop for Muslim women on Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m. and a trip to Toronto later this month to attend the annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention. 

Mariem said these types of events, including the bracelet-making workshop, help her connect with other Muslim students and foster a community on campus. 

“I come together with students with whom I share the same emotions and thoughts,” she said. “This is the most effective way to protect my Muslim identity and I am proud of it.”

“The main funding commitments of the economic statement didn’t consider disabled people at all,” said Carly Fox, communications and partnership director for The National Education Association of Disabled Students.

The group expected “expected disabilities to be more mainstreamed in the economic update,” said Fox, including more long-term funding commitments.

She said that disability is only mentioned four times in Tuesday’s statement and seven times in the accompanying annexes.

Fox also noted disabilities are “often included in EDI statements but not always meaningfully considered outright.” 

Canada’s Housing Action Plan chapter of the economic statement, for example, lists people with disabilities as a marginalized group benefiting from more affordable housing projects.

“Affordable housing does not equal accessible housing,” Fox pointed out. She said disabled people continue to face access barriers.

Fox said her organization was also disappointed in the amount of sustainable funding allocated to disability programs. The group had hoped for specific funding allocations for the Canadian Disability Benefit, intended to ensure people with disabilities meet their basic needs. 

Fox said the benefit was “top of mind” prior to the statement, so its exclusion was “pretty disappointing.”

Existing resources available to people with disabilities have been under strain for a while now with increasing demand for services, according to Bruce Hamm, director of Carleton University’s Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities. 

Funding “has been sustainable at incremental levels, but it is not rising at the same pace as the increased number of students needing it,” he said.

The lack of specific attention given to persons with disabilities in the economic statement seems to depart from the growing demand for these services, Fox suggested. “More and more people are identifying as disabled,” she said. 

Fox noted the economic statement had its advantages, such as disabled people benefitting from general cost-of-living supports.