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?
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
Finally,
this year marks 30 years of Salaam! Thanks to a wonderful partnership with TheArQuives 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