This Ontario support program for Muslim women helped them feel safe. It’s now looking for restart funds

An Ontario mental health service is looking for funding to continue a series of Muslim women’s support groups that were launched in response to Islamophobic attacks, including the 2021 killings of members of the Afzaal family in London. 

Abrar Trauma and Mental Health Services got the Brave Space program up and running three years ago, but it ended late last year.

“The need [for such a program] is high. We are in the process of applying for more grants to keep it sustainable,” Abrar Mechmechia, who leads the organization, said about the program.

Launched in Hamilton and London, it expanded to add more sessions in February 2023, as well as workshops in Mississauga and Kitchener.

Abrar Trauma and Mental Health Services, which is geared toward newcomers and immigrants, secured funding for a pilot in 2021 following an alleged hate-motivated attack at the Hamilton Downtown Mosque and the attack on the Afzaals that a judge ruled was terrorism.

Funding for the 2023 expansion was provided by Islamic Relief Canada and the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion.

In all, about 35 people attended the support groups and there were 80 to 100 participants in the workshops, Mechmechia said.

“The community really rallied for something like this,” project leader Amira Youssef said, adding that new funding sources will allow Brave Space to grow. 

Support groups were online and in person, and there were also group discussions, educational sessions, art and other programming. For example, in Hamilton, participants received in-person self-defence training. 

Participants included women of all ages

Youssef said Brave Space connected women of different ages and backgrounds.

“Some younger women really learn from the older peers and vice versa.”

Fatima Sohail participated in Brave Space’s various activities in Hamilton after hearing Mechmechia speak about it at the downtown mosque.

Sohail, 20, said it sounded like a place where she could share her experiences outside of a strictly religious context, including with Islamophobia, which she said she has experienced while travelling outside Hamilton and at work.

“Hearing other people’s stories [at Brave Space] definitely helped me be comfortable in my own skin.” 

Sohail said speaking with the older women, who offered a different perspective, allowed her to see how being a Muslim in Canada affects people in different ways, “but also in ways we could all relate to, talk about and work through.”

Sohail also enjoyed the self-defence training, which made her more comfortable to “put myself out there and point out when something is not right.”

Now working with Abrar to fundraise for future Brave Space programming, she said she hopes more people will be able to benefit from it. 

“Even if two or three people attended a Brave Space, it would make such a big difference because maybe one day, these people would have the courage to speak out” against Islamophobia, she said.

To share more about the program, Abrar Trauma and Mental Health Services has published a video, including testimonials from participants.

Mechmechia said programs such as Brave Space are still much needed amid reports of hate incidents and community trauma as a result of the war in Gaza.

Youssef believes Islamophobia is underreported outside the Muslim community, as non-violent incidents may not be reported to police, but it’s important that awareness is raised about all hate incidents so people outside the Muslim community “can be aware and promote a world where we can come together and protect one another.”