'All of us have to commit': New campaign aims to make public spaces safer for Muslim women

The Sisters Dialogue unveiled a new ad campaign aimed at addressing gender-based Islamophobia in Edmonton. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

A group of local Muslim women is trying to help their community feel seen and fight negative assumptions in Edmonton.

The Sisters Dialogue unveiled a new campaign Friday showcasing the diversity of Muslim women and calling on Edmontonians to help make public spaces safe for everyone.

The tagline for the campaign, "Individual safety is all of our responsibility," will be featured alongside images of Muslim women on a Jasper Avenue billboard, an ETS bus and digital ads in LRT stations.

"If one of us needs to feel safe, all of us have to commit to making our community safer," said Timiro Mohamed, a director of Sisters Dialogue.

The group, which supports racialized Muslim women and girls, was founded in 2021 after a string of attacks on Muslim women in the city, most of them Black.

Mohamed said the campaign is the culmination of its work since then and has been created entirely by Muslim women for their own community.

"Seeing ourselves reflected in this way in public spaces, in photos taken by Muslim women ... featuring us in all of our different forms, ages and backgrounds, is so important because we live here, we build lives here, and so we need to see ourselves reflected here," she added.

The Sisters Dialogue received funding from the City of Edmonton's anti-racism grant program to create the campaign.

They consulted local Muslim women on their experiences and ideas during its production.

That kind of work has sometimes been missed by other anti-Islamophobia and anti-racism initiatives, said the group's founder, Wati Rahmat.

She hopes that by highlighting the diversity of Muslim women, the campaign will help dispel assumptions and stereotypes and help all Muslim women feel safer in public spaces.

"This awareness campaign, first and foremost, is for Muslim women and girls. For us to see ourselves," Rahmat added. "We've been in the shadows too long because we are in fear, we are scared.

"This is for us to take up space and see ourselves."

According to Statistics Canada, the number of hate crimes reported to police in Canada rose by 72 per cent between 2019 and 2021.

The Sisters Dialogue said many attacks on Muslim women are not reported to police and safety remains a concern for the community despite the city's anti-racism strategy.

"I think that we still live under systemic oppression, that gendered-Islamophobia and misogyny are still costing us our lives and our safety," Mohamed said. "But I do think that we are a resilient community, that we're constantly creating space in defense of one another.

"That Muslim women show up for Muslim women, and that programs like this are necessary."

The campaign officially launches Saturday at 2 p.m. at City Hall with the unveiling of a photo exhibition.

The campaign and exhibition will run until Sept. 8.