---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Salaam Canada <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2022 at 16:18
Subject: A letter to our community
To:


Hello friends and comrades,

The past two years have been a very challenging time for all of us. The
pandemic has cracked open the deep ruptures and fissures that exist in our
communities and so devastatingly and disproportionately impact our
communities of Black and brown LGBTQ Muslims.

At Salaam Canada, our small team of volunteers has felt this deeply. After
ten incredible years of service, our current leadership is planning for a
transition and searching for new leadership. Thankfully, in 2019 we brought
together 50 LGBTQ Muslims from across Canada to build capacity, learn new
skills and become champions for our communities. The future looks bright.

In an effort to sustain Salaam Canada and support another generation of
LGBTQ Muslims *we’ve decided to pause all programming immediately,* take
some time to rest, and thoughtfully prepare a succession plan. We hope to
return in the Fall of 2022 with a national steering committee that reflects
the full diversity of our deen with some wonderful regional champions from
coast to coast.

*What does this mean?*


   1. The national, virtual peer support group will pause until further
   notice. However, Toronto’s regional group, in partnership with The 519,
   will offer a comparable monthly space
   <https://www.the519.org/events/qmcc>.

   2. Salaam will no longer be monitoring its email or social media
   accounts. We’ve set up an autoresponder to communicate as much.

While we take this break, we’d like to also share that we’ve launched five
new educational resources. You can access them on our website:
https://www.salaamcanada.info/publications


   1. It’s Not a Phase: Support for Family Members of LGBTQ Muslims
   2. More Than Just Feeling Alone: Understanding LGBTQ Mental Health
   3. Do Ask, Do Tell? Coming In, Out & Around as LGBTQ Muslims
   4. What Is Islamophobia? Safety and Resistance for LGBTQ Muslims
   5. A Community Discussion Guide (to create your own peer support group)

[image: salaam resources.png]
These resources were co-created with more than 50 LGBTQ Muslims and based
on the experiences and expertise of our support group volunteers. We
encourage you to share them far and wide. Print them and place them in your
schools, community centres, and mosques. Throw them in your bags and slip
them across the dinner table with your loved ones. It is a gift to our
communities and, together, we hope to support and uplift our queer and
trans kin, and change the minds of our families and neighbours who’ve yet
to recognize the sacredness of LGBTQ Muslims.

Finally, this year marks 30 years of Salaam! Thanks to a wonderful
partnership with TheArQuives <https://arquives.ca/> we will be
memorializing this incredible history of activism and advocacy. It is
another reminder that it is the perfect time to pass the torch.

Thanks so much for being a part of our vibrant community. We are in a
permanent daze of gratitude for all that you do and all that you are. We
can’t wait to unveil the next phase of Salaam with a new slate of champions.

It has been the honour of a lifetime to be in and of service.


Salaam,

Rahim Thawer & Lali Mohamed


--
Follow us on Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/salaamcanada/>
Follow us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/salaamqueercanada/>

Join our mailing list by emailing us here:
[log in to unmask]

To leave, manage or join list: https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=sdoh&A=1