Muslim Women’s Helpline: Canada

As womens’ roles in Canada have changed, women have gained more control over their bodies and reproduction. In Canada, contraceptives for women are easily accessible causing a great decline in Canada’s population. With this being said, Canada strongly depends on immigration to keep our economy afloat. With the dependence on immigration and through Marxist perspective; equity of persons is essential in a functioning society.

The Government of Newfoundland stated they are trying to attract immigrants to the province to enhance the economy, as well as social and cultural development ( Reitmanova &  Gustafson, 2007).  Immigration is not only prevalent amongst Newfoundland but across Canada.  If Canada is so dependent on immigration there should be health care, social and community services that are responsive to the diverse needs of immigrant families. (Reitmanova &  Gustafson, 2007).

In Mississauga, there has been a new initiative launched addressing the need for support amongst Muslim women in the Greater Toronto Area. The program director of Mississauga’s Women centre has noticed a lag in terms of help lines as there are none specifically for Muslim women to call in respects to their culture and faith (Javed, 2012). After months of research, training and through fundraising the Women’s Resource Centre collectively created the country’s first help line specifically for Muslim women in October, 2012. The director claims; “Confidential and anonymous, it’s meant to be a place to which women can turn for emotional support, peer counseling and referrals… callers in crisis are told to call 9-1-1, or the counselor may alert authorities”(Javed, 2012).

Having an acute understanding of one’s cultural background and belief system is very important prior to assisting anyone with any social problems they may face. As a non-Muslim individual how can we ensure we are not oppressing this population? This helpline is specifically for Muslim women, and ran by Muslim women. I believe this provides the best type of service for the callers accessing this line.

I believe this is going to be the start of new Muslim based social programs and I am so thrilled that Canada has acknowledged the demand of these services for these women.

Cassandra

 

References

Noor, Javed. (November 15, 2012). New helpline for Muslim women may be Canada’s first. The Star.
Retreived from: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1288492--new-helpline-for-muslim-women-may-be-canada-s-first

Reitmanova, S.,  & Gustafson,L. (2008).”They Can’t Understand It”: Maternity Health and Care Needs of Immigrant Muslim Women in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Matern Child Health J, 12, 101-111. doi: 10.1007/s10995-007-0213-4