Our publications reflect the lived experience/realities of Muslims in Canada, as well as examining the conditions in which they live as Muslims in Canada. Our studies are critically informed by such lived experiences, and elevate research by and about Canadian Muslims. We produce academically rigorous research papers, policy briefs, working papers, and in brief notes, that analyse and elevate the public discourse surrounding Muslims, serving as a valuable resource to academics, journalists, policymakers, as well as the general public. This page also contains publications based on our work from other publishers.
Research Papers
Research papers seek meaningful engagement with the academic literature in the relevant field. They are longer papers, and/or represent more research based work, as distinct from our projects which are community-based, and do not always produce papers as a final product.
All our research papers are blind peer-reviewed by experts in the field.
Unpacking the Diversity of Faith-based Organizations: Towards a Taxonomy Focusing on Non-Profit Islamic Organizations
Date: March 2019
Authors: Mahdi J. Qasqas and Dr. Tanvir Turin Chowdhury
ABSTRACT
The literature on non-profit organizations in general is vast and continues to grow. However, research exploring the diversity within faith-based non-profit organizations has only been emerging for about 10 years, with little attention paid to non-profit Islamic organizations. This publication aims to begin filling this gap; furthermore, it advocates for higher degrees of ecological validity by recommending that any further studies recognize the diversity of Canadian non-profit Islamic organizations before aiming to generalize the results of further studies.
Black Muslims in Canada:
A Systematic Review of Published and Unpublished Literature
Date: February 2019
Authors: Dr. Fatimah Jackson-Best
Produced in partnership with The Black Muslim Initiative
ABSTRACT
Black Muslims have a long history in Canada, but there has not been a consolidation of the published and unpublished information about these communities that can give a more nuanced understanding of these groups’ lived experiences. To explore the scope and content of the available work about Black Muslims in Canada, a systematic review was done that focused on available published, unpublished, and grey literature.
Read the literature review here.
Download the accompanying infographic [pdf] and Appendix B: Table.
Title: A Diverse Portrait of Islamic Religious Charities Across Canada: A Profile Analysis of Organizational Dynamics
Date of Publication: August 2017
Authors: Mahdi J. Qasqas and Tanvir Turin Chowdhury
Abstract: Islamic Religious Groups (IRGs) are the backbone of community life for many of the 1.3 million Muslims living in Canada, and yet no detailed research on these entities exists to date. In order to begin filling this knowledge gap, we set out to accomplish two objectives in this study: (1) to provide a content analysis of the programs and activities IRGs offer across Canada, and (2) to conduct a financial analysis of these IRGs. Qualitatively, IRGs are diverse and dynamic, requiring categories beyond those used by the CRA for deeper exploration. Financially, we know that IRGs receive only 4% of their total revenue from government (compared to 21.3% for all other charities) and that, remarkably, it costs IRGs an average of only $0.011 to raise one dollar. However, further research is needed to examine IRGs other performance measurements, and broader data is required to enhance our understanding of IRGs operating in Canada.
Read the full report here.
Title: Audience Reactions to Orientalist Stereotyping in I Dream of Jeannie.
Date of Publication: August 2015
Author: Katherine Bullock
Abstract: As part of a wider study to examine the impact of negative stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims on viewers, this study interviewed fourteen non-Muslim and Muslim women and men. Five focus groups each watched an episode of I Dream of Jeannie, followed by an audio-taped semi-structured interview. I Dream of Jeannie is an American sitcom about a female genie and the disruptions she causes to her “master” Tony Nelson, an astronaut at NASA. The show is based on traditional orientalist stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims as barbaric, and exotic, sometimes manipulated for comic effect. The interviews revealed that while the Muslim viewers did not like the way Arabs and Muslims were depicted in the show, most non-Muslims did not notice such representations.
Read the full report here.
Read a version published in the Journal of Arab and Muslim Media, 8: 2, 2015, pp. 83–97 here.
Title: On Dominant Discourses about Canadian Muslim Women: The Need to Promote Peacebuilding.
Date of Publication: February 2015
Authors: M. Anum Syed & N. Noor
Abstract: In Western discourse, the gaze on Muslim women has been a complicated mix of fascination, objectification and pity. Historical narratives, deeply entrenched in colonialism, have contributed to a problematic construction of Muslim women. As well, a current climate of increased war, surveillance, misinformation and political, cultural and religious clashes has and will continue to have a direct negative impact on the well-being of Muslim women in the East and the West. This paper focuses on this overall context and is inspired by some peacebuilding initiatives in North America. By relying on this concept of peacebuilding, we propose a framework that incorporates peacebuilding tools that can contribute to rectifying problematic discourses about Muslim women. Our recommendations focus on increasing Muslim women-led interfaith dialogue groups, knowledge networks and anti-Islamophobic campaigns as strategies that can highlight the accomplishments of Muslim women and promote a discourse which calls on society to advocate for their rights and social well-being in the West. This piece mentions each of these tools along with concrete examples as illustrations of gendered peacework being conducted in North America. It is our hope that ur recommendations may inspire Muslim women leaders and their allies to continue to tie their community-based responses to peacebuilding work.
Title: Canadian Muslim Youth and Political Participation: A Willingness to Engage.
Date of Publication: June 2011
Authors: Katherine Bullock and Paul Nesbitt-Larking
Project Partner: MENTORS
Funding: Olive Tree Foundation
Abstract: Based on interviews with twenty young Muslims conducted in late 2010 and early 2011 in two Ontario communities: London and the Greater Toronto Area (mostly Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville). Participants were asked about their knowledge of and interest in being involved in the Canadian political system. The report finds that Canadian Muslim youth fit the same broad patterns of political participation as other Canadian youth – mostly not involved in formal politics, but highly engaged in informal politics, civic engagement and volunteerism. In addition, the interviews revealed that in spite of a media narrative that focuses on Muslim youth as alienated from Canada, and concerns over racism, our interviewees feel a deep and positive attachment toward Canada and are willing and interested in engaging in the political community.
Read Executive Summary here, or the full report here.
Policy Papers and Briefs
Intended for policy makers and community leaders, Policy Papers and Briefs represent summaries of our work or the relevant academic literature, and often include policy relevant recommendations. All our policy papers and briefs are reviewed by experts in the field.
Title: The Right to Testify in Niqab in a Sexual Assault Case: Supreme Court Case: N.S. v. R
Date of Publication: June 2012
Authors: Lina Khatib, MPA
Abstract: This policy brief argues that N.S. should be entitled to wear her niqab. In very exceptional circumstances, if the judge finds that the niqab hinders the fair trial process, N.S.’ religious requirement should be accommodated by the courts to the fullest extent possible. This can be done by using the accommodation measures afforded to witnesses through the Criminal Code, including an effort to reduce the number of people to whom she is required to show her face and/or limit those people to women.
Read the full report here.
Title: Response to Quebec`s Bill 94: It is not the solution.
Date of Publication: May 2010
Authors: Katherine Bullock and Ayesha Haque
Version francais ici
Abstract: In this TTI policy briefing, we argue that the proposed Bill-94 currently before the Quebec legislature should not be passed. (“An Act To Establish Guidelines Governing Accommodation Requests Within The Administration And Certain Institutions.”) We further argue that other Canadian provinces should not follow suit. We conclude that Bill 94 will isolate, not integrate, Muslim women wearing niqab, into Quebec society. Bill 94 violates their right to freedom of conscience and equal treatment as citizens of Quebec. Bill 94 violates the recommendations of the Bouchard-Taylor report, which was commissioned by the Quebec government in 2007 to provide guidelines on how to broach issues of minority integration into Quebec.
Read the full report here.
Title: Examining Islamophobia in Ontario Public Schools
Date of Publication: October 2016
Authors: Nora Hindy
Abstract: The 2016 Environics survey of Muslims in Canada found that one in three Canadian Muslims reported experiencing discrimination due to their religion or ethnicity—well above the levels of mistreatment experienced by the general Canadian population. This policy paper is a research-based examination of Muslim students’ experiences of Islamophobia in the public school system in Ontario, with a view to identifying actions and policies that can be implemented to improve the educational experiences of these students.
Read the full report here.
Title: Towards an Inclusive Secularism and a Transformative Model of Community Engagement in Québec
Date of Publication: October 2014
Authors: Roshan A. Jahangeer
Version francais ici
Abstract: In September 2013, the Parti Québécois (PQ)-led government in Québec released their proposal for a “Charter of Values” legislation (Bill 60) that would have prohibited public servants, parapublic, and some private sector workers from wearing so-called “ostentatious” religious signs or symbols. Although the PQ were defeated in April 2014, making defunct the controversial policy, the majority Liberal government promised to release its own version in the fall.
The track-record of the Liberal Party on the issue of religious accommodation leaves room for concern. This policy paper argues that any new Charter should be balanced and inclusive, addressing issues of concern without aggravating tensions between different groups in Québec society. Proper consultation is needed with all of the concerned parties and groups within Québec, particularly with those who were adversely affected by the initially proposed laws and measures contained in the Charter.
Read the full report here.
Title: Support Mosques to Assist in Muslim Integration in Canada.
Date of Publication: May 2010
Authors: Katherine Bullock, PhD
Abstract: Based on an oral history project of Toronto’s first mosque, which existed from 1961 to 1968, this Tessellate Institute policy brief contains seven recommendations that all orders of Canadian government provide material and non-material support to mosque associations for their non-religious activities designed to assist in immigrant integration. The policy brief recommends that Canadian government agencies, while recognizing the importance of government neutrality with respect to the separation of Church and State, nonetheless, play a visionary role by promoting mosques as ideal sites both for incorporating their congregants into the fabric of Canadian society, as well as for providing services for the wider Canadian society.
Read the full report here.
Working Papers
Working papers represent academic or community based work that is on-going, or presented as an early summary.
Title: Annotated Bibliography: Islam and Muslims in Canada.
Date of Publication: July 2016
Authors: Sanaa Ali-Mohammed; Yuliya Barannik; Katherine Bullock and Asif Hameed.
Abstract: An annotated bibliography focused on academic books and journal articles about Muslims/Islam in Canada, which are filed by the major theme of the piece.
Read the full bibliography here.
In Brief
Short op-ed style or brief backgrounders to current policy-relevant topics of the day, written by experts in the field.
Title: Policy Backgrounder: Taqiyya
Date of Publication: January 2018
Author: Liyakat Takim, PhD
Abstract: In medieval times, faced with a hostile Sunni Muslim majority, Shī‘ī Muslims often resorted to taqiyya (hiding their true beliefs and identity) to ensure their survival. At the same time, they postponed jihad to the time when the promised Messiah reappears. Taqiyya is only to be resorted to when one’s life is in danger, and for those Muslims living in the West, it is prohibited, since such dangers no longer exist.
Read the full brief here.
Title: The 50 most tweeted words under #M103 tell a story about contemporary Islamophobia in Canada
Date of Publication: March 2017
Author: Cory Funk
Abstract: A quantitative research study of just over 14,500 tweets (including retweets) containing #M103 from February 12 to the evening of February 15, identifying the 50 most used words in those tweets. The study finds that many of the tweets communicated an irrational, fearful, and unsubstantiated suspicion towards Muslims and the place of Islam in Canadian society; painting Islam as monolithic, violent, ideological, and as a threat to western values. The very definition of Islamophobia.
Read the full brief here.
Title: Policy Backgrounder: Defining Islamophobia for a Canadian Context
Date of Publication: March 2017
Author: Katherine Bullock
Abstract: This brief survey’s different academic definitions of the term “Islamophobia,” including alternatives such as “anti-Muslim racism.” Scholars recognise that the phenomenon in question, whatever it is called, is ultimately about exclusion. Addressing exclusion requires precise responses, at the governmental and societal level. The better the definition of the key term, the easier it is to formulate policy responses and to rally public support. Thus, even if only strategically, avoiding the concepts of “irrationality” in relationship to the phenomenon is preferred. The brief argues that as anti-Semitism is defined simply as “hostility to or prejudice against Jews,” perhaps something similarly simple should be adopted in the Canadian context: “Anti-Muslim bigotry: hostility or prejudice against Muslims.”
Read the full brief here.
Derivative Publications
Here there are publications based on TTI work, published by other journals or printing presses.
“Islamic Perspectives on Basic Income”, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 36:1, 2019, 29-52
“Entertainment or Blackface? Decoding Orientalism in a post-9/11 era: Audience views on Aladdin,” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 39, 5, 2017, 446-469.
“Visible and invisible: An Audience Study of Muslim and non-Muslim Reactions to Orientalist Representations in I Dream of Jeannie’, Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, 8, 2, 2015, 83–97.
“Canadian Muslim Youth,” in Samina Yasmeen, (ed) Muslim Citizens in the West: Promoting Social Inclusion, Ashgate, 2014.
“Becoming “Holistically Indigenous: Young Muslims And Political Participation In Canada,” with Paul Nesbitt-Larking Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs,” Vol 33, Number 2, 2013, 185-207.