Through this project, MRCSSI strives to empower collective responsibility and strengthen capacities within Muslim communities and institutions to address GBV and support the safety of girls and women.

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Grounded in a culturally integrative approach, the initiative values faith and culture as strengths. By using these assets, we promote healthy, respectful relationships and challenge harmful norms that contribute to violence.

Through education and engagement, It’s On Us brings people together to:

• Create meaningful conversations about gender-based violence
• Develop awareness materials and interactive programming
• Use Forum Theatre to spark dialogue and reflection
• Support youth and women as peer leaders and community champion

This campaign is about building knowledge, nurturing leadership, and fostering shared responsibility. Together, women and men, parents and children, community members and leaders all have a role to play.

It’s On Us to support the safety of girls and women.
It’s On Us to take action to end GBV.
It’s On Us – all of us.

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Parent Workshops
MRCSSI developed and facilitated 18 interactive workshops for newcomer adults and parents, engaging a total of 79 unique individuals. These workshops were offered in Arabic and delivered in collaboration with the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) and community partners such as London Cross Cultural Learner’s Centre and LUSO Community Services. The workshops provided spaces for exploring themes like parenting in a new country, navigating integration challenges, and practicing self-care. According to parent feedback, the sessions addressed topics relevant to their lives, helped foster connections with schools, community agencies, and peers, supported their sense of wellbeing, and offered helpful information and practical strategies.

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The Journey Home Project is an evidence-informed initiative designed to support newcomer families in navigating settlement challenges and fostering family well-being. The project focuses on:

• Supporting newcomer families to access community resources and programs.
• Providing guidance and mentorship to parents and caregivers to help them overcome barriers related to settlement and integration.
• Facilitating family-centered workshops that promote positive parenting, resilience, and healthy family relationships.

The Journey Home Project emphasizes early intervention and culturally responsive strategies to help families thrive in their new environment. Through this program, families are better equipped to navigate the challenges of settlement while fostering strong connections within their community.

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Supporting Her Safety equips participants with the knowledge and skills to:

• Understand the difference between healthy, unhealthy, conflictual and abusive relationships
• Recognize different forms of abuse and warning signs
• Challenge harmful norms & responses
• Support a friend or loved one experiencing abuse using the 5 Alifs, a trauma and culturally informed guide

After attending the program: I became more focused on the warning signs and red flags of domestic abuse, and I became able to distinguish and extend a helping hand and support to victims of abuse.

SHS Participant

SHS Resources

We created 3 resources providing guidance on how to support a friend or loved one experiencing abuse while taking care of yourself.

• Being there: Checking in on a loved one experiencing abuse
• The 5 Alifs: Supporting a loved one who discloses abuse
• Taking care of yourself: Balancing care and self-care while supporting a loved one experiencing abuse

Amira’s Story

Amira’s Story is a graphic novel written by over 20 London Muslimahs about gender-based and family violence, which was 7+ years in the making. It follows Amira and her family over two days and highlights themes of gendered double standards, the pressure and violence some young Muslim daughters face and the struggles of immigrant and racialized families. The book is in the process of being published, and book clubs with youth, parents and community members will start soon.

Is it Abuse?

The Is it Abuse series of 6 culturally informed resources supporting Muslim women and girls to identify their experiences of abuse within intimate partner and family relationships. These resources help Muslim women & girls identify experiences of abuse, validate impacts of abuse, and provide them with information about the supports they can access. We have created:

• 6 short graphic poster versions (digital and print)
• 6 detailed booklet versions (digital and print)

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Men Leading Change is a 12-week youth leadership program that connects racialized and newcomer men (ages 15 – 25) with community leaders working to prevent gender-based violence (GBV). This project fits into MRCSSI’s community education strategy addressing gender-based violence and promoting healthy relationships by facilitating opportunities leadership and action.

This leadership program creates opportunities for young men to learn about gender-based violence and it’s impacts on girls and women, as well as develop strategies to further raise awareness with peers. This project started in the fall of 2018. Anova and MRCSSI reached out to the YMCA YMAP program to host a cohort. In October 2018, the first cohort reached 23 high-school aged newcomer male youth, with 13 participants actively attending each week.

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Goal: To interrupt so-called “honor-related” violence in families who come from collectivist cultures within the London community and beyond by improving services and responses necessary to keep victims safe.

In a truly innovative partnership with the Cure Violence (formerly CeaseFire) project of Chicago, we are developing a program that will engage the community to change behaviors and beliefs surrounding violence.

The original Cure Violence project is internationally recognized for its evidence-based approach for effectively dealing with community-based violence, by providing alternate dispute resolution mechanisms. This partnership is in large part a result of the efforts of Sheema Khan, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, who identified common themes of honor between the two settings. The Family Honour Project is in on-going development and research. More recently, a group of community members, mainstream service providers, and MRCSSI staff and volunteers came together for a three-day workshop to incorporate the Cure Violence model in responding to “honor” related violence.

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• Youth take the lead.This means this project is designed and implemented by youth.  We draw upon their knowledge, creativity and skills while investing in their leadership.
• We create safe spaces to have “difficult” conversations. This means we hold safe spaces for sensitive conversations to be had, with a focus on identifying and challenging problematic thinking.
• We find strength in our communities. This means we view our communities as capable, skilled, knowledgeable and filled with potential. We capitalize on community strengths to address existing challenges.
• We work with multiple stakeholders.This means we bring together leaders and service providers from many sectors that all have the passion and capacity for positive social change.
• Prevention before intervention. This means we believe that violence is constructed and thus can be prevented.

Our Activities What do we do?

1. Workshops that engage young Muslim women and men, including creative arts-based strategies to help us enrich our understanding of gender-based violence
2. Provoke constructive dialogue within the Muslim communities and the larger London community through facilitated community conversations­
3. Raise awareness and promote a critical shift of ideology and discourse around notions of ‘honour’ and ‘honour-related’ violence through our campaigns
4. Collaborate with other institutions and organizations with similar mandates to share and learn best practices surrounding community engagement
5. Host workshops for service providers with the hopes of better equipping them with the resources needed to serve victims of gender-based and ‘honour-related’ violence

For more information, please visit www.reclaimhonour.com This project has been funded through Status of Women Canada’s Women’s Program.

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Expected Outcomes of SJP

•   Successful collaborative local relationships will be established between the respective Muslim communities, South Asian communities, and Children’s Aid Societies

•   Improved child protection services capacity and responses to working with Muslim and South Asian immigrant and refugee families

•   Increased capacities within the target Muslim and South Asian community organizations to support families and children at-risk of violence. Early intervention will reduce the potential of escalation of family conflict

•   The project will also lay the foundation for building effective relationships with other cultural communities, especially those from immigrant collectivist cultures

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