Dunia Nur is a change-maker who centers communities most impacted by structural oppression and supports their right to participate in decision-making, fairly access resources, and meaningfully influence the policies that shape their lives.
As a Muslim woman of African ancestry, Dunia lives and works on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton, Alberta. Her work is grounded in anti-racist practice, she leads efforts to advance the self-determination of communities most marginalized by systemic racism and works to transform public institutions to uphold their autonomy, dignity, and collective agency. She is the co-founder, President, and CEO of the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council (ACCEC), a nationally recognized public affairs organization advancing the human rights and dignity of people of African descent in Canada. Dunia bridges frontline practice and executive leadership.
Under her leadership, ACCEC has become a nationally recognized voice in human rights advocacy, public policy, and quality direct services.
Dunia translates lived experience and community-based wisdom into policy, justice, and governance frameworks. She receives long-standing mentorship from African and Indigenous Elders and continuously grounded in community-based learning and African knowledge systems. With over 15 years of experience, she has designed and led best-practice rehabilitation and community-driven programs across health, justice, and social systems. She pioneered court support programs for Black women situated at the intersections of anti-Black racism and gendered Islamophobia. She further pioneered the use of culturally informed pre-sentencing reports in Alberta courts, led in Alberta’s consultations informing the federal Canada Black Justice Strategy, and contributed to advancing national justice reforms. She is a trusted advisor on the experiences of war, displacement and statelessness facing child migrants preceding their arrival in Canada.
Dunia’s approach emphasizes healing, collective responsibility, and long-term structural change. She has been recognized through the Alberta Community Justice Award (2022), was named one of Edify’s Top 40 Under 40 (2025), and received the YWCA Edmonton Women of Distinction Award Community Changemaker 2025 for her work in redefining the landscape of racial justice and gender equity in Alberta.
What are the most meaningful aspects of this person’s work and life?
Visionary Leadership: As President and CEO of the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council (ACCEC), Dunia Nur leads national initiatives to advance equity, justice, and dignity for people of African descent.
Justice Reform: She pioneered the development of specialized, culturally informed pre-sentencing reports for Black Canadians in Alberta, helping the legal system account for the impacts of systemic racism and poverty.
Holistic Community Care: She led the creation of the African, Caribbean & Black (ACB) Stabilization Program, which uses an Afrocentric, trauma-informed model to support youth facing mental health and addiction challenges.
Health and Safety Advocacy: She established groundbreaking programs for Black women and girls, focusing on health equity (reproductive, cardiovascular, and mental health) and legal support for victims of gender-based and hate-motivated violence.
How has this individual overcome the challenges they face?
Refugee Experience: Dunia arrived in Canada at age six as a refugee fleeing the Somali Civil War.
Systemic Navigation: From a young age, she acted as a translator for her family, gaining an early understanding of how complex government policies and structures impact individual well-being.
Cultural Identity: She overcame the personal and ancestral trauma of displacement by embracing her heritage, guided by Cree mentors and Elders who empowered her to use her culture as a source of strength rather than fear.
How has this individual empowered you and/or our communities?
Youth Rehabilitation: Through ACCEC, she has assisted over 500 youth in their rehabilitation journeys, helping them transition from crisis or incarceration into leadership and employment.
Cultural Reclamation: She empowers Black youth to foster pride in their ancestral lineage and heritage, teaching them to be their own “agents of change” rather than being defined by external stereotypes.
Systemic Accountability: By integrating African Indigenous knowledge into research and healthcare, she ensures that community care is culturally responsive and that institutions are held accountable for disparities.
Name a Black Muslim woman who has been an inspiration to you and why.
My greatest inspiration is closer to home: my mother. As an African Muslim woman who survived the intersections of civil war and forced displacement, she is the living embodiment of love, courage, and integrity. She has worked tirelessly and ethically, not only to rebuild her life but also to uplift and meaningfully contribute to her community and society.
During Somalia’s prime, she was offered opportunities to move abroad to Canada and the US, but she chose to remain rooted in the land she loved. This was an act of profound connection to her land. When war eventually forced her to migrate to Canada, she carried the weight of having watched her world burn, losing lives, property, and friendships, including the unimaginable grief of losing two sons to the violence. I was born into the very heart of that conflict; she was in labour with me while the air was thick with the sound of gunfire, literally bringing life into a space of destruction and doing everything in her power to protect my life.
Despite arriving in Canada without speaking English with two small girls, she faced the dual weight of anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. As a child and adolescent, I watched my mother build a network of communities and sisterhood within the walls of low-income housing, where her identity as a Black Muslim refugee woman required her to navigate anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, and economic precarity. With limited resources, she found ways to raise us safely in neighbourhoods marked by gun violence and poverty, communities that were routinely over-policed but chronically underinvested in the infrastructure necessary to foster safety and opportunity. I watched my mother walk through snowstorms at 5:00 am to work for $5.00 an hour to provide for us and support our family back home. Even while suffering the 15-year separation from my father and youngest sister, a trauma that significantly impacted her well-being, and the experience of many refugee families, she ensured our home was a sanctuary. It was a home filled with joy and laughter, and the aromas of traditional Somali dishes introduced my palate to rich, diverse flavours that told untold stories about our heritage and its connection to all African nations. She taught me Pan-Africanism, the idea that all African nations share a common bond and should unite at the dinner table.
My mother did not just survive; she invested. She enrolled herself in school, graduating in Early Childhood Development, and used that specialized knowledge of the ‘child’s brain’ to fiercely advocate for us and any Black child being mistreated in the system. She challenged school boards, immigration departments, and judicial systems with a courage that knew no borders. The parents and children from all backgrounds and diverse cultures whom she nurtured while working in daycare remain connected to her till today, a testament to the impact and care that the world has no words to describe.
She grounded me in an unshakable love for Islam and my identity as an African Indigenous person, teaching me our shared responsibility to humanity and the preservation of human dignity. My mother is a tiny woman with a giant spirit; she is my ultimate architect of agency who built a world of dignity for her children out of the ashes of war. I am the leader I am today because I am the daughter of her courage, a courage that reflects the resilience of the Global African Muslim woman. Though small in stature, my mother has always carried a presence far greater than her frame. She taught me to work with honesty and integrity, to always prioritize human dignity, to work hard and balance caring for my well-being, and to never misuse any opportunity or privileges I am entrusted with. Her story may never be written in textbooks, but it did not go unnoticed. Elders, aunties, and youth from our community would often remind me, “This is the impact your mother made in my life.” She led with quiet courage, seeking neither attention nor recognition, yet through me, her story will be heard.
