Islamic Focus - Islam in Canada

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Islam in Canada

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The Muslim community in Canada is almost as old as the nation itself. Four years after Canada's founding, the 1871 Census found 13 Muslims.

The first Musjid was built in Edmonton in 1938. From 1960s Muslims began to arrive in significant numbers. In1971 there were 33,000 Muslims in Canada, in 1981 there were 98,000 and in 1991 there were 253,265. By 2001, the Muslim community had grown to 579,000. Preliminary estimates for Census 2006 pointed to almost 800,000.

In the 1980s, Canada became a place of refuge for Lebanese. The 1990s saw Somali Muslims and Bosnian Muslims arrive. Almost every Muslim country in the world has sent immigrants to Canada. The majority of Canadian Muslims live in Ontario, with the largest groups settled in and around the Greater Toronto area. According to the 2001 Census, there were 254,110 Muslims living in Greater Toronto. The capital Ottawa hosts many Lebanese and Somali Muslims. There are also Moroccan, Algerian, Pakistani, Syrian, Iranian, Bangladeshi and Turkish communities with nearly every major Canadian metropolitan area having a Muslim community.

Quebec has ruled that the niqab or burka is not welcome in schools or medical facilities. Muslims have asked to have family dispute courts oversee small family cases, such as the ones available to Jews, but were faced with opposition from Pro-Israel lobbies and liberal Muslim groups.

The Muslim community is represented by several organizations and has a Darul Uloom, 5 Islamic schools and 55 Musjids. A Muslim woman was elected to the Quebec National Assembly in 1994.

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