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Siema Abbas and Hina Ansari, from CCMW West Island (Montreal) chapter, will be making a presentation at the Transforming Spaces: Girlhood, Agency and Power conference at Concordia University, Montreal on November 21-23. The title of their presentation is "Sisterhood and Empowerment through Islam".  For details, please visit:

http://www.powercampnational.ca/html/home.html
 

Montreal W. Isd - Annual Report 2002

This year, our chapter has been busy and by and large, quite successful. To date, we have held 8 regular meetings. Many of our members have been active in both Muslim and mainstream communities. Our activities focused on women and women's issues, but were certainly not limited to only women. Individual members have organized activities out of their own initiative that allowed them to best use their strengths. 

Our efforts to liaison with other groups in Montreal have increased. We offer organizational help and support to other Muslim and non-Muslim groups. The youth have been active this year: during the summer, they organized a drive to collect clothing and non-perishable foods for the needy, with the guidance of one of our more experienced members. The community response was overwhelming. Most of the items have already been distributed but the remainder is being stored in a warehouse, offered by "Helping Hands", a local community organization. 

Our regular activities have continued and are strong. This year, we delivered 75 Ramadan baskets to needy families during the Holy month. 

Telephone inquiries have been received from France, by Muslim women seeking assistance and advice, regarding possible immigration to Canada. They were directed to the appropriate Government offices.

A letter writing campaign, both in English and in French was held to protest the occupation of Palestine and withdrawal of Israeli troops. This very successful activity (over 250 letters were mailed out by post to various Govt. offices) also led to the organization of Women's March in Downtown Montreal. The preparation and the mobilization was done entirely by a Women's Committee and the interaction and help given by the male members of the various organizations was tremendous. Apart from the Muslim organizations mentioned above, the input and active participation by the General Union of Palestinian Canadian Women, Women Against Occupation, Canadian Palestinian Foundation, Medical Aid to Palestine and SPHAR made this event a success.

Our interfaith meetings with Jewish ladies have been a success. On their request to observe our prayers, a visit to the Mosque was arranged in co-ordination with the Imam. We were also invited to the Synagogue to observe their service, then we had a 'Joint Service' with them at the Synagogue.

Another member facilitated a Basic Computer Skills workshop that introduced those members who are not familiar to the world of computers. It was a dynamic workshop, appreciated by all those who attended. 

Although the annual 'Blood Drive' was not held this year, two of our members are on the Board of Hema Quebec Volunteer's Association. This year, the importance of donating blood has been made evident as a member of the community recently lost her son to leukemia. Due to this incident quite a few members enlisted for bone marrow registry. 

On a continuous basis, members have been volunteering their time by giving emotional and physical support to women who need it. 

The annual conference 2002 of Islamic Social Services was held in Montreal. This provided an excellent platform to discuss issues of the urgent need for social services within the community. It was the first time that Montreal Muslim Community had the opportunity of discussing problems at a public forum. 

Al-Hidaya, an organization which has purchased a building in the North of Montreal for a Community Center, has been in touch with CCMW chapter to ask for guidance and help in forming a women's branch and setting up a day care. 

Future Activities 

Our current project is our chapter's participation in the Canada Day parade in Montreal.

Another initiative that we are actively pursuing is the creation of a fitness centre for women. We have offered our assistance to the Women's Vitality Association who are enthusiastically trying to structure a project that would allow women to have a variety of services offered to them under one roof, such as swimming, gymnasium, fashion boutique, beauty salon and a cafe etc.