Muslim Advisory Council of Canada

Published purpose

Through this 42-month project, the Muslim Advisory Council of Canada, in partnership with the Center for Community Based Research, will conduct research on collaborative ways to overcome intersectional barriers and obstacles faced by Muslim women in the Halton region in disclosing GBV and seeking support from formal services and informal networks as family, friends, and community leaders. Centering voices from the Muslim communities, service providers, and people with lived experiences, the project will assess their needs through focus groups, a community survey, a community forum, and a literature review. Promising and culturally informed interventions will be evaluated through cases study, a series of focus groups and interviews on targeted cases. Then, knowledge products on effective interventions, such as a technical research report, an equity-oriented gender-based screening framework, and training tools and toolkits, will be developed and shared to build the community’s capacity. At the end of the project, a knowledge mobilization summit on the research findings will be held with stakeholders and the community. With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, the Muslim Advisory Council of Canada will develop sector-specific cultural safety toolkits, law enforcement crisis-response resources, and legal navigation guides; produce a podcast series and sector-specific webinars; convene cross-sector implementation roundtables; and expand its digital knowledge hub to support institutional adoption of research findings. Through this work, the organization will further advance gender equality by strengthening equitable access to gender-based violence services for Muslim women, improving systemic coordination between Muslim-serving and mainstream institutions, and providing sustainable, publicly accessible knowledge resources that bridge research with lived community experience.