The annual conference, a Forum on "Engaging Muslim Women in Civic and Social Change" was held in Montreal, on October 3-5, 2003.

We are most grateful to the Montreal and Ottawa chapters who hosted the event and without the hard preparatory work done by a number of the chapters' members the conference would not have been such a success. Thank you.

The evaluations have been extremely positive, with coments such as "outstanding" "empowering" "spectacular" "highlight of my year"
"informative" "relevant"  "great speakers."

Participants found the forum respectful and open, and one commented that "I am pleased with the feeling of safety to be able to discuss important issues that we were unable to do as Muslim women in the past."

There were several comments about the excitement of hearing music reverbrating through the hall and learning about Art as a medium for activism.

The main concern, which is voiced at every conference, is that there was not enough time for more discussion!

The keynote speakers, Professors Homa Hoodfar and Azizah al Hibri and the plenary panel speakers set the context of the day. The comments about the speakers reflected how superb they all were.

The workshops were specific on issues and we hope to build on these through partnerships with the Federation of Canadian Municipalties and the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians.

We were honoured to have Nurjehan Mawani, the federal Public Service Commissioner, as our dinner speaker and she certainly provided us with an inspiring example of a Canadian Muslim woman. The film of Naz Ikramullah was also much appreciated by the audience.

The Forum is an important part of CCMW's Three Year Strategic Plan and it will be incorporated into the work the national board and the chapters will do in the next year.

Forum Report will soon be mailed to the funders, speakers and will be on our website in the new year.

We thank the Department of Canadian Heritage, Multiculturalism Program, the Status of Women and the Canadian Women's Foundation and its Partners for funding the conference. We are grateful for their continued support of our efforts on behalf of Canadian Muslim women."