Being Muslim in BC: Community Conversations and Reclaiming Narratives

May 9, 2026 | 12 - 3 PM

OVer the weekend, participants joined the Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline, the University of Victoria’s School of Social Work, and CCMS for this interactive workshop on “Being Muslim in BC: Community Conversations and Reclaiming Narratives.”

The overall goal of this project is to share our stories as Muslims, and allies, to reclaim narratives and foster better understanding of experiences of trauma, and resilience.

The project is led by a team of University of Victoria faculty, and a community partner, the BC Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline (ILAH). We invited participants to a community check in and resource workshop for approximately 30 people. The workshop included toolkits on rights and responsibilities, community storytelling and reclaiming narratives. It was facilitated using trauma- informed practices to avoid harm and will use culturally safe markers. The outcomes of the project include sharing resources and guidelines to strengthen supports and responses, the emergence of data to guide further research grant applications and a preliminary working paper.

We used semi structured focus group discussions and storytelling as the primary methods of gathering data. All data will be confidential.