Workshop for Islamic Heritage Month
Islamic Heritage Month: Showing Support in Schools
On 16 October 2017, a workshop for Islamic Heritage Month was held at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute. The event was one of thirteen different workshops that took place in October for Islamic Heritage Month. Each event was held at a different school in Toronto, covering a unique topic regarding Islamic heritage.
The workshop was held in the library from about 7 pm to 8:30 pm. The topic of the workshop was “How to Build Strong Relationships with Your Local School” and it was the first of four events under the larger theme of supporting Muslim students in the classroom. The successive three workshops were held at schools in each of the different learning centres of the TDSB.
The evening’s events were led by Gilary Massa, a member of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), an advocacy organization that focuses on the human rights and civil liberties of Canadian Muslims. The NCCM ran all four of the school-related workshops for Islamic Heritage Month. Ms. Massa encouraged audience members to comment and ask questions during the presentation as well respond to each other. The workshop was concluded with a case study, in which participants were put into groups to discuss how biased activities in the classroom can affect Muslim students. When asked why the NCCM conducts these workshops, Ms. Massa said, “We want to participate and play our part in helping communities understand their rights.”
Over fifty parents and administrators attended the workshop. Dr. John Malloy, Director of Education at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) was also in attendance to show his support for Islamic Heritage Month. He expressed the importance of celebrating and honouring diversity in school. “I think that it’s really important for us to better understand all cultures and ethnicities,” he said. ”Without it, we can’t really be the community that we want in the TDSB.”
The audience was very active, as Ms. Massa highly promoted discussion between the parents and administrators. One participant, Ms. Sheri, is a parent of a student attending MGCI, as well as a teacher at Valley Park Middle School. When asked about the workshop, she said, “It was well done. We talked about awareness regarding how we stereotype in a school environment and the challenges that Muslims and non-Muslims can face.” Speaking from the perspective of an educator, she added, “We may see those barriers, but we have to ask: How much do we support those students in the classroom?” Audience members also commented on how helpful it was to hear personal stories from other parents.
Overall, the workshop succeeded in its goal of helping parents and educators learn more about the issues of discrimination and Islamophobia in the school environment. Dr. Malloy said, “These are very important topics—it connects families to our schools so we are all learning from one another.”
