Islamic association celebrates 20 years

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This article was published 14/09/2019 (2511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 1999, Muslims in North America who needed religiously appropriate social services had few places to go.

“There were so many needs not being met by mosques or Muslim organizations, and Muslim families were in crisis with nowhere to turn,” Shahina Siddiqui says.

So Siddiqui, along with three others, created the Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) to provide social services, mental health support and counselling for Canadian and American Muslims in a culturally appropriate and spiritually sensitive manner.

“There was no other organization devoted to Muslim family services, or advocacy on behalf of Muslim families caught in various systems,” she says.

On Sept. 19, 5:30 p.m., ISSA will celebrate its 20th anniversary at a gala celebration at the Victoria Inn, 1808 Wellington Ave.

For Siddiqui, who has served as the volunteer executive director for ISSA in Canada since the organization split into U.S. and Canadian branches in 2003, the anniversary is a time to celebrate what it has achieved.

That includes helping Muslim newcomers in Manitoba navigate the social service system, become civically engaged, and providing things like counselling, mediation and conflict resolution.

“We have become the go-to place for resolving issues or consultation on various issues facing our community,” Siddiqui says.

It also involves “educating all sectors of service providers to be culturally competent and spiritually sensitive when working with Muslims, and building bridges between diverse communities to address racism,” she says.

Although Muslims will be celebrating ISSA’s contributions to their community, others in Winnipeg are grateful for its existence, too.

“ISSA is the only agency that provided education, consultation, advocacy and program planning related to the nature and needs of Muslim people,” says Debra Kostyk, a counsellor who teaches at Booth University College and who has been involved with ISSA for about 10 years.

For Lori Wilkinson, a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Manitoba who has been volunteering with ISSA for about five years, the organization plays a very important role for many Muslim newcomers, who can find the move to Canada daunting.

“Not only are they learning a new society and culture, and often a new language, they are entering a system that may seem perplexing,” she says.

ISSA helps “translate and navigate” the Canadian and Manitoba way of offering settlement and social services in a way they can better understand, helping them “avoid problems” as they learn “our way of doing things.”

But ISSA is also important for non-Muslims, they say.

ISSA is “a community and relations-builder,” Wilkinson says. “Their goal is to bring people of all faiths together to learn, share and educate one another.”

Without their work, she adds, “I think Winnipeg would be a less friendly and inclusive space.”

For Kostyk, ISSA provides “an objective, knowledgeable, collaborative perspective about Islam and culture” for non-Muslims — especially police, educators, medical workers and others who provide various services in Manitoba.

It also actively promotes “mutual respect, dialogue, active listening, learning about diversity” for all residents of the province, she says.

Both also see an important and continuing role for ISSA.

“Given the current climate of hatred for so many peoples, I think the major challenge in the short term will be the workload around educating the public about xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism,” Wilkinson says.

For Kostyk, ISSA has a role to play for schools, child and family services, health care, universities, government departments, and mental health and addiction services.

Both also hope ISSA can secure permanent operational funding, like many other social service agencies in the province.

As for Siddiqui, she is grateful for all that has been accomplished — and for the role she could play in it.

“It’s been my calling, my humble way to help strengthen Canadian Muslims so they can be proactive participants in the betterment and growth of our country,” she says.

As for the future, her goal is to see ISSA continue to work with others to build “a just and compassionate Canada” as it meets the needs of Manitoba Muslims, and as it builds bridges between different faith communities.

Which is a goal we can all support — Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

For more information about ISSA’s 20th anniversary gala, or to buy a ticket, visit issacanada.com.

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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