Muslim Canadians attain and retain their rights
and civil liberties within Canada as well as to high-
light their concerns. Women play significant roles
as active members of these organizations
The Muslim community in Canada maintains a
vibrant and visible role as its largest minority group,
with a population of over 650,000 Muslims. In
order to assist Canadian Muslims in understanding
their role, and to address and disclose injustices
they may confront, several organizations have been
formed to educate the average citizen about his/her
civil rights and freedoms within Canadian society.
In 2004, the major organizations include the Mus-
lim Lawyer’s Association (MLA); the Canadian-
Muslim Civil Liberties Association (CMCLA); the
Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW);
the Federation of Muslim Women (FMW); the
Council of American Islamic Relations-Canada
(CAIR-CAN); and the Canadian Islamic Congress
(CIC).
The human rights movements in Canada reflect
parallel objectives, such as advocating for equal
participation of Canadian Muslims in social, edu-
cational, legal, and political spheres in accordance
with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Free-
doms; highlighting educational and legal avenues
to guarantee the affiliation of health, social, and
public services in order to ensure that they are cul-
turally sensitive and fully accessible to Canadian
Muslims; undertaking relevant aspects of public
education; disseminating and publicizing material
in relation to Islam and Muslims; making resources
available in reference to Islam and Muslims; devel-
oping, publishing, and distributing resource mate-
rials concerning discrimination and cross-cultural
education; and presenting the Islamic perspective
on issues of importance and relevance to the
Canadian public and academia.
The MLA unofficially began in 1992 and was
officially inaugurated in 1998. The group consists
of individuals of diverse backgrounds in the legal
profession. The goals of the MLA are networking,
peer support, educational outreach to the Muslim
community, and professional advocacy. The organ-
ization exists to interact with and assist Muslim
lawyers, law students, the Muslim community, the
legal profession and the public at large. Women
within the organization comprise less than half of
the membership and work primarily with the gov-
ernment, NGOs, and commercial companies or
organizations. The disproportion of male and female
membership of the MLA is due neither to the
scarcity of Muslim women lawyers nor their quali-
fication. Following graduation from law school
female lawyers face realities such as difficulty in
canada 271finding an appropriate practice, reduced or changed
interest, or their personal preference to tend to
domestic responsibilities. Few women have occu-
pied leadership positions. Yusra Siddiquee, an
immigration lawyer, was the first and only female
interim governor of the MLA, 1994–97. Siddiquee
occupied the position of vice-chair and assisted in
helping to formalize the organization in light of the
constitution. Haniya Sheikh, a woman lawyer in
the area of commercial, regulatory, health, mali-
cious prosecutions, and negligence who works for
the Government of Canada in the Department of
Justice, is a current governor of the MLA. After 11
September 2001, the MLA became a nationwide
network. Various internal concerns were phased
out as the organization considered its services in
relation to the demands of the community. The
MLA is an important resource for the Canadian
Muslim community in educating its members of
their rights and identifying and connecting them
with lawyers and other resources best capable of
advising and/or representing them in issues, chal-
lenges, and injustices they may confront.
The CMCLA was founded in 1994 to address
matters that reflect the intricacies of Muslim life in
Canada. Members of the CMCLA consist of con-
cerned individuals, scholars, students, and commu-
nity activists who are versed in the Canadian legal
system, including those who have worked in the
area of social policy-making as well as activists in
the field of education and the mass media. The
CMCLA maintains long-term goals on the national
front in order to assert change at both institutional
and political levels. It also works at the grassroots
level by providing assistance to individuals and
communities when resources are available. The
organization has maintained a predominately male
board, but it has depended upon the involvement of
women at all levels of various CMCLA campaigns.
The organization also relies on the volunteer expe-
rience and assistance of women and has had
women supervise many projects. Sajidah Kutty has
been the only female board member of CMCLA,
1994–2001, and has assisted in the public relations
sector. She has also directed a fund-raising and
awareness campaign and assisted in daily commu-
nication endeavors. CMCLA strives to empower
the Muslim community in Canada through legal,
political, and social avenues.
Canadian-based Muslim women’s organizations
such as the CCMW, founded in 1982, and the
FMW, founded in 1997, serve as catalysts for
Muslim women to attain a voice within the larger
Islamic movement and the Canadian community at
large. Both organizations were established with the