Ottawa Iftar Brings Community Closer
“There aren’t many options to learn about Islam from Muslims,” says Lisa Duchene, who was at the first gathering of 40 friends, held at Carleton University.
“We never thought it would get this big,” she added, reffering to the estimated 400 people who attend the annual iftar.
Harmony Iftar is an annual Ottawa event hosted during Ramadan to invite people of all faiths to the feast in an exercise of community building and education.
The event was held on Friday, July 11, in Little Italy’s banquet hall, where hundreds of attendants, including Ottawa’s mayor Jim Watson, shared iftar meal with Muslims.
“We’re celebrating Ramadan in Little Italy just down the street from Chinatown,” said Watson to laughs from the crowd.
“That’s what makes Ottawa special.”
In Ottawa, Duchene says Ramadan Iftar is about community.
“It’s like meeting your family every single night for 30 days but your family is the whole community,” she said.
Christina Torsein is from Ottawa but is based in Mali for UNICEF.
Working in many Muslim countries, Torsein said it is very special to be included in a longstanding and important Islamic tradition in her home city’s Harmony Iftar.
For her, this even offers a much-needed opportunity for people to learn more about other belief systems.
“I think a lot of people don’t have faith or spirituality and outside of their own faith or spirituality they don’t know much about other faiths,” said Torsein who preferred not to categorize her own faith.
Muslims make around 1.9 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the country.
A survey has showed the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian.
Interfaith events usually help in correcting misconceptions about Muslims which resulted in a sharp increase in anti-Muslim views among Canadians.
Source: On Islam
