Our Work

The CSMA advocacy efforts in this sector were prompted by anecdotal observations and media reports of increase in the number of young Somali males coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Through multi-pronged efforts, the CSMA achieved significant milestones:

• Increasing awareness within the Somali community that problems faced by youth belong to the community and not individual families. The CSMA message of “we’re in this together” made it easier for isolated families to speak publicly about their challanges.
• Sensitizing the police to the perspectives and concerns of the Somali parents and exploring together opportunities for prevention interventions.
• Drug awareness education targeted to parents to recognize signs of addiction and to learn about the dangers of substance abuse.
• Increasing parent understanding and navigating of the legal system, including understanding the changes to criminal sentencing (minimum sentencing requirements).
• Offering lunch and learn cultural competency session to the employees of Ottawa detention centres.
• Identifying gaps in detention centres services for racialized youth resulting in the creation of a pilot project involving the hiring of the first ever-multicultural inmates liaison officer to providing culturally competent counseling and support to Muslim youth in detention.
• Providing direct support to youth in detention centres to reduce opportunities for re-offending:
  • Practical social supports to youth (e.g., fundraising to provide clothes and reading materials).
  • Supporting youth in detention with no close relatives in Canada
• Providing advice and emotional support to mothers dealing with the criminal justice system.

The CSMA consulted with, and reached out to, school boards to convey the feelings and concerns of Somali parents. Mostly recently, CSMA met with the school board and provided recommendations on how to support marginalized families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CSMA also joined other advocacy organizations and contributed to the efforts to speak against funding changes and cuts to language training for newcomers and other programs utilized by students with special needs.

The CSMA hosted workshops for Somali parents to express their concerns about their children’s education and learn the skills and supports available to support their children’s learning.

Over the years, the CSMA outreached to parents and youth to establish supportive community networks. Some of CSMA activities include:

• Improving neighbourhoods by connecting and linking parents across the Ottawa neighbourhoods – to enable sharing of ideas for identifying and resolving neighbourhood related problems.
• Actively supporting initiatives led by Somali youth by providing financial, material, and moral supports to youth: CSMA supported:
  • The annual Awake event which celebrates the achievements of the members of Ottawa Somali community.
  • Horn of Africa famine relief activities which Somali youth led and raised large sums of money for charities such as Human Concern International.
  • The Somali Youth Mentorship Program founded by Somali youth to mentor Somali high school students.
• CSMA contributed to OLIP’s (Ottawa Local Immigration Partnerships) development of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy, which sets priorities for integration outcomes for immigrants to Ottawa.