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CSMA in the News

Black Ottawa Scene

Ottawa-based Canadian Somali Mothers Association was the proud recipients of the 2017 Crime Prevention Ottawa Community Safety Volunteer Program award. This honour was conferred on the organisation at a special ceremony at Ottawa City Hall on Laurier Avenue West. These annual awards recognize the people, groups and programs that have made a difference in preventing crime and making communities safer across the city. It will be recalled that, in 2014, the association was the recipient of the prestigious Black History Ottawa Community Builder award for their outstanding outreach and engagement with vulnerable Somali youth (see picture above).

Below is their citation for this esteemed Crime Prevention Ottawa award.

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Abdirahman Abdi Statement - Ottawa Citizen

This is the Canadian Somali Mothers’ Association’s official statement regarding the vicious killing of Abdirahman Abdi by Ottawa Police Officers on Sunday, July 24th, 2016, and the impact of the killing on the Ottawa Black Community.

Below is their citation for this esteemed Crime Prevention Ottawa award.

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Kalthum Dirir is a spiritual counselor and an active member of the Canadian Somali Mothers Association. She is a lecturer, family, and community builder committed to community advocacy and enhancing the skills and capacities of low-income families, particularly single mothers, to enable them to support their children’s education and well-being. Kalthum has extensive experience in supporting marginalized families. She has created meeting spaces where mothers come together and share resources, contributing to the betterment of the Ottawa-South community. She also has extensive knowledge and connection to Ottawa services that support families and has successfully linked families to existing resources in Ottawa. She is a highly respected leader in the community and supports both Francophone and Anglophone speaking families.

Amina Abdiqadir Ega is the founder and head instructor of the Al-Fitrah Learning Centre in Ottawa. She has worked as an interpreter supporting the Somali and Swahili-speaking communities for nine years. For over 20 years, Amina served as a teacher, mentor, and a guide for children and youth of all ages. She was a teacher and Vice-Principle of the Ottawa Islamic School for a decade. Amina has been a member of a grassroots family hub and women's committee in her neighborhood for many years, supporting families dealing with child welfare issues and building family resilience and networks. Amina is a big believer that creating change in our communities must begin by growth and improvement on the interpersonal level and expand outwards to our families, communities, and beyond.

Amina is a life coach, a mother, grandmother, educator, and an active member of the Canadian Somali Mothers Association. Amina is Fluent in English, Swahili, and Somali.

Hawa Mohamed is a founding member and the coordinator of the CSMA. Using her lived experience and passion for building strong and healthy communities, Hawa has, over the years, dedicated her time to advocating for marginalized youth who are in trouble with the law and their families. Hawa seeks to bring attention to the connection between poverty, school dropout, and youth violence. Rallying the community, Hawa has created platforms to discuss these issues and find creative solutions. Leading a significant number of women volunteers, Hawa and her team met with politicians at both the federal, provincial and municipal levels to bring forward ideas for addressing challenges that low-income families face. She has created a lasting partnership with organizations, and her work is recognized in Ottawa and beyond, and she is frequently requested to share the CSMA work.

Hawa has been recognized for her commitments with several awards, such as the Heroes Among Us award by Immigrant Women’s Services Ottawa) and the Leading Woman of the Year (2016) by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and several awards that the CSMA garnered. Hawa is a long-serving Healthcare Support Worker, a mother, and grandmother. Hawa speaks English, French, Somali, and Arabic.