ManitobaIndigenous and Muslim Manitobans came together in Winnipeg on Sunday to show friendship and solidarity with one another.Islamic Social Services Association hosted Muslim-Indigenous gathering on SundayDave Baxter · CBC News · Posted: Sep 29, 2025 10:20 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoIslamic Social Services Association board member Jamie Carnegie and executive director Shahina Siddiqui are seen on Sunday at the Muslim-Indigenous Solidarity Event at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)Indigenous and Muslim Manitobans came together in Winnipeg on Sunday to show friendship and solidarity with one another. The Islamic Social Services Association hosted a Muslim-Indigenous solidarity event at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg that saw people from Indigenous and Muslim backgrounds gather for a day of prayer, ceremonies, conversations, games and activities. ISSA executive director Shahina Siddiqui says the event was held to promote healing and reconciliation between the two communities.Siddiqui believes the two groups have much in common due to multiple Muslim majority countries experiencing colonization at the hands of western European countries in previous decades. “We are children of colonization, and so we know the multigenerational impacts of colonization are still in our community, and so we understand each other,” she said. “We understand what it means to have your culture, your language, your faith erased, so I think we are naturally very good allies.”Siddiqui says the association has been taking other steps in recent years to bring Indigenous and Muslim people together, including hosting the first national Muslim-Indigenous Solidarity Conference in Winnipeg in January. “We had people coming from all over Canada and even the [United] States, because they had never heard of such a thing, that they would get together for a conference on our mutual understanding and learning and healing,” Siddiqui said. Jamie Carnegie, an ISSA board member, said Sunday’s event included serious teaching and conversations, while also aiming to offer a fun day for people of all ages, “because joy and fun are what makes space for healing. And when you don’t have fun is when you lose hope, so we need to strengthen our hope and our resilience, and that comes from being together.”Raylene Sutherland, a member of the Peguis First Nation, said she came to Sunday’s event with her husband, Lawrence, because they both believe there is a lot to be gained when different religions and cultures come together. Peguis First Nation members Lawrence and Raylene Sutherland, seen on Sunday at the Muslim-Indigenous solidarity event at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, believe there is a lot to be gained when different religions and cultures come together. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)”It’s good to be a part of gatherings like this, so we can all grow strong and find our way,” Sutherland said. “Reconciliation is something that is very important, not only for the Indigenous people but for all the people that are part of our communities.”ISSA plans to continue holding similar solidarity events, including a two-day anti-racism training event for Muslim youth, Breaking the Shackles of Racism, that will take place at the Hilton Winnipeg Airport Suites on Nov. 8 and 9.ABOUT THE AUTHORDave Baxter is an award-winning reporter and editor currently working for CBC Manitoba. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he has also previously reported for the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press, as well as several rural Manitoba publications.With files from Gavin Axelrod
Cross-cultural solidarity event brings Indigenous and Muslim Manitobans together
