Current Events

• Community Initiative for Student Success:
  This is an initiative in response to the frequent suspension of young people who serve their suspension in home with no remedial measures that address the problem for which they were suspended.
  
  
• MENTORS is currently working on a proposal:
  "Towards Understanding: Moving Beyond Racism and Islamophobia" for the Department of Canadian Heritage-Multiculturalism Canada.
  
  
• Toronto Response for Youth:
  We are currently embarking on our second cycle of this very successful program.
  
  
• MENTORS Education Seminars:
  MENTORS is offering free seminars throughout the May and June 2004 for parents. Make a positive contribution to your children’s education by attending the seminars on Education. The seminars provide parents with the understanding of the cirriculum as set by the Ministry of Education. Along with an outline of strategies to assisst their children to meet or exceed the Ministry's expectations will be presented in the seminars.
  
  

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  What: Understanding the Cirriculum
  Make a positive contribution to your children’s education.
  When: Sunday May 23, 2004
  Where: Salaheddin Islamic Centre
  
  741 Kennedy Road
  Scarborough, ON
  
  Time: 2-3pm
  Child Care and Refreshment provided.
  For registrations please call Alimamy Bangura at (416) 269-8562

Past Events

• April 20, 1996
  Dawah table at Scarborough Board of Education's Annual Community Involvement Conference.
  
  
• May 25, 1996
  Dawah table at Woburn Collegiate's Spring Fair
  
  
• August 14, 1996
  Focus group for Muslim women held at Centenary Health Centre. Eight women from MENTORS attended a meeting to discuss health issues of concern to Muslim women, and provide input on how health care providers and hospitals can become more accommodating to the needs of Muslims
  
  
• August 17, 1996
  Garage sale at the West Scarborough Neighborhood Community Centre. MENTORS first fundraising event!
  
  
• August 26, 1996
  Information table at the Islamic Foundation Bazaar: our goal was to raise awareness of our group and encourage the involvement of Muslim parents in public education.
  
  
• September 18, 1996
  Open House and registration for tutorial program at Bendale BTI. The program provides ESL and academic support in language and math to Muslim students from grades 1-12
  
  
• September 24, 1996
  MENTORS met with coordinators of physical education and music for the Scarborough Board along with the equity Officer for Scarborough
  
  
• October 24, 1996
  MENTORS attended a seminar at Thompson Collegiate entitled "Multicultural Panel Presentation on Teaching in a Multicultural Society".
  
  
• October 24, 1996
  Meeting with the Scarborough Board's coordinator for physical education regarding the health and sexuality curriculum.
  
  
• October 25, 1996
  MENTORS attended a weekend retreat for training teachers/facilitators for the SMILE camp.
  
  
• November 23, 1996
  MENTORS held its first fundraising dinner at the Islamic Foundation. Imam Abdullah Hakim Quick was the keynote speaker.
  
  
• July 1998
  Sister Jasmine Zine was invited as a guest speaker on behalf of MENTORS to the annual ISNA-Canada conference held at the University of Toronto. The topic of her talk was, "Re-defining Resistance: Toward an Islamic Sub-culture in Schools."
  
  
• August 1998- December 1998
  MENTORS worked in partnership with the Federation of Muslim Women, CAIR and the Afghan's Women's Centre to form an ad hoc coalition called the Muslim Women's Community Coalition. Coalition members had a series of meetings with Minister of Citizenship and Culture Isabelle Bassette, to discuss community concerns.
  
  
• November 1998
  Sister Jasmine Zine, representing MENTORS, made a submission at the TDSB in support of the draft Policy on Anti-Racism and Ethno-cultural equity.
  
  
• April 1999-June 1999
  MENTORS, along with representatives of other Muslim community organizations, were a part of an ongoing community consultation process with the TDSB on the issue of faith accommodation, which resulted in the Guidelines and Procedures for the Accommodation of Religious Requirements, Practices and Observances, currently being implemented in Toronto Schools. The guidelines for the Muslim community were based a draft originally developed by MENTORS.
  
  
• Saturday April 29, 2000
  Islam in Canada Symposium sponsored by MENTORS and other groups, at Northern Secondary School. The purpose of this symposium was:
  • To initiate a forum for discussion of major issues which affect the Muslim community
  • To foster cooperation and tolerance among Islamic organizations
  • To allow for networking, and socializing of Muslims who have become compartmentalized because of organizational affiliations.
  
  
  
• Summer 2000
  Teacher Mentoring Program: Qualified and unqualified teachers were partnered to allow inexperienced teachers to learn from more experienced teachers, and was a source of teacher's aid. This program was geared specifically towards Islamic school teachers who did not have an Ontario Teacher's Certificate.
  
  
• Summer 2000
  Bangladeshi Youth Project: This MENTORS project was the result of a request by the Bangladeshi community for the establishment of a Sunday school where children will receive an Islamic education. The program is for ages 5-18, held every Sunday.
  
  
• October 21, 2001
  Community Forum: The Muslim Community and the Public School System. Working in partnership with the TDSB, this interactive forum aimed to provide parents with inside information on the education system. It featured workshops dealing with different areas of the schooling system, and was facilitated by board members and community leaders.
  
  
• March 2001
  Store Front Project: this program was geared to developing leadership youth for young people between ages 16 to 30, with the purpose of developing leadership skills. Weekly meetings were held where youth discussed problems that affect them. Also a social get together to strengthen faith and learn more about Islam was organized. MENTORS worked with forty other agencies to form this multi-agency one-stop center.
  
  
• December 2001
  Two community forums were organized involving parents, teachers and students from the TDSB to generate discussions in response to September 11th. Over 1000 people attended.
  
  
• March 28-30, 2003
  MENTORS participated in an Award of Excellence Symposium entitled Racism: Breaking Through the Denial.
  
  
• March 2003
  MENTORS Website Launch: MENTORS launches its website. The address is www.mentorscanada.com. Please visit our website for updates on future programs and activities. You can also find detailed descriptions of our current programs.
  
  
• April 1, 2003
  Towards Understanding: Moving Beyond Racism and Islamophobia: The workshops focused on the need for greater knowledge of Islam and the recognition of the Muslim community as part of a broader diverse Canadian mosaic among other communities. The Peer Leaders from the Toronto Response for Youth I (TRY I) were sent out to facilitate workshops in schools, in churches, mosques, community centres and where ever youth gather. The workshops helped students identify and challenge different types of discrimination and oppression and helped develop critical media literacy and conflict resolution skills.
  
  
• August 26-27, 2003
  Teacher Education Institute: The institute held another successful training session for teachers in the Islamic schools. The institute was held in the. Facilitators ran workshops titled Art in the Quran to Classroom Management. The 2003 TEI was held at Madinatul-Uloom Islamic School in Scarborough. There were 100 teachers in attendance.
  
  
• September 10, 2003
  What’s the Future for Scarborough? : MENTORS attended this community discussion about the future of Scarborough’s diverse communities.
  
  
• September 2003
  Community Initiative for Student Success: This initiative is a response to the frequent suspensions of young people who serve their suspensions at home with no remedial measures that address the problem for which they were suspended. The centre will provide counselling by cultural counsellors, psychologists, social workers, and peers. The program is dedicated to reducing the chance of re-suspension and keeping an ongoing relationship with the student and family in order to reinforce the learning that has taken place.
  
  
• September 2003
  Toronto Response for Youth: II: we have now undergone the initial phase in the project development and are now conducting anti-islamaphobia workshops in schools across the GTA and Halton Districts. We are currently embarking on our second cycle of this very successful program.
  
  
• October 2003
  Anti-Islamaphobia Project: The launch of the project took place at City Hall on October 8th, 2003. It was very successful and very well received.
  
  
• November 2003
  MENTORS Outreach: MENTORS was invited to many public schools across the GTA and York Region to give a talk on Ramadan as part of our community outreach program. The students benefited from the workshops facilitated by our Executive Director.
  
  
• November 8-9, 2003
  TEI: MENTORS held a weekend Pre-service Teacher Application Preparation for Islamic School teachers entering Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of University of Toronto. The weekend workshop was facilitated by Dr. Njoki Wane and was held at Madinatul Uloom Academy.
  
  
• November 2003
  Certificate of Appreciation presented to MENTORS in recognition of outstanding contribution as a partner of the Toronto District School Board in providing innovative program enhancements that enrich students’ educational experiences.
  
  
• November 25, 2003
  CCCJ 2003 Young Leaders Forum: MENTORS was invited to attend the Young Leaders Forum where Alimamy Bangura facilitated a Group Discussion on “How communities experience stigma in Canadian Society”.
  
  
• November 26, 2003
  TDSB Public Meeting: MENTORS was an attendee at the TDSB co-management team public meeting for one of the TDSB’s new information and outreach process.
  
  
• December 2003
  MENTORS gave a presentation to the Maytree Foundation alumni group on the “Lessons in Political Leadership” regarding the Municipal Election process.
  
  
• December 2003
  MENTORS was an attendee at the reception for the Newly appointed Mayor of Toronto at the Ontario Labour Council.
  
  
• December 2003
  Muslim Police Consultative Meeting: Finding a way for the Muslim community to work with the police in dealing with problems and to explore a more positive working relationships.
  
  
• December 9, 2003
  Stand Up for Scarborough: MENTORS took part in the Stand Up Scarborough festivities that took place at the Scarborough Civic Centre December 9th.
  
  
• December 2003
  Community Initiative for Student Success: MENTORS promoted the CISS project at the South Asian York Region Public Education School Network meeting. Also trying to extend the work of MENTORS into York region.
  
  
• Aisling Discoveries Diversity Committee Meeting
  
  
• December 2003
  MENTORS was an attendee at the reception for newly elected trustees at the OSSTF.
  
  
• January 9, 2004
  George Brown College: MENTORS was present at the annual George Brown College Job Fair for the Child and Youth Worker Program. It was an opportunity for MENTORS to do some community outreach for many of our programs.
  
  
• February 27, 2004
  Black History Month: MENTORS was invited to attend a Black History Month assembly at the Islamic Foundation. We held a seminar for the students in grade 9-11 there.
  
  
• March 15, 2004
  Parent Community Student Involvement: MENTORS is part of an ongoing participation in a working group, which as established to review the policy on the importance of parent and community involvement.
  
  
• March 20, 2004
  J.S. Woodworth Award ceremony: The federal NDP recognizes MENTORS for our efforts in the elimination of racial discrimination through our programs and educational workshops.
  
  
• March 23,2004
  Announcing Closing the Distance: The conference dealt with an eighteen month project on community mobilization to close the distance with social inclusion and population health in Ontario.
  
  
• March 31, 2004
  Parent Community Student Involvement: A working group comprised of parent representatives from diverse groups across the city of which MENTORS is part, attended this meeting to review the policy of the Parent Community and Student Involvement policy.
  
  
• Aril 6, 2004
  Safe Schools: Toronto District school Board’s task force on safe and compassionate schools.
  
  
• April 7-8, 2004
  Inviting Voices conference: This event was held at the Faculty of education at Queens University. MENTORS was asked to facilitate a workshop on the Anti-Islamophobia Workshops hosted by MENTORS.
  
  
• April 14, 2004
  Equity Conference: Jasmine Zine president of Mentors was invited to give a talk at the conference while Alimamy Bangura attended to inquiry about MENTORS at the display table.
  
  
• April 22, 2004
  EQAO Information Session: This free forum on the EQAO testing process followed by a discussion of the benefits of standardized testing. Alimamy Bangura was there representing MENTORS.
  
  
• April 22, 2004
  Access and equity conference: made a presentation at Domenico Diluco Community centre in north York, workshop parent leadership development, based on our own program of Parent Leadership training program.
  
  
• April 28, 2004
  Count Me In: Our executive director Alimamy was present at the community health day event hosted by Count Me In. This was a campaign to promote human and social development by helping everyone belong. He was also interviewed by the host of CBC radio’s Here and Now.

• MENTORS Education Seminars:
  MENTORS is offering free seminars throughout the May and June 2004 for parents. Make a positive contribution to your children’s education by attending the seminars on Education. The seminars provide parents with the understanding of the cirriculum as set by the Ministry of Education. Along with an outline of strategies to assisst their children to meet or exceed the Ministry's expectations will be presented in the seminars.
  
  

  ---

  What: Understanding the Cirriculum
  Make a positive contribution to your children’s education.
  When: Sunday May 23, 2004
  Where: Salaheddin Islamic Centre
  
  741 Kennedy Road
  Scarborough, ON
  
  Time: 2-3pm
  Child Care and Refreshment provided.
  For registrations please call Alimamy Bangura at (416) 269-8562
•