Khaled Al-Qazzaz, CMPAC’s Executive Director, presents ICLMG’s Tim McSorley with their Community Partner Award.

During the recent Parliamentary Iftar dinner hosted by the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC), Tim McSorley, our National Coordinator, was honoured to receive the Community Partner Award for his dedicated partnership and steadfast contributions in service of the Muslim community.

We are deeply touched to receive this award, immensely grateful for the important advocacy of CMPAC (a member of the ICLMG coalition), and looking forward to continuing our partnership of defending the civil liberties of the Muslim community and of all people in Canada.

Thank you!

Tim McSorley’s statement on social media:

Last week, I had the honour of attending the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Parliamentary Iftar. It was wonderful to sit down to break bread with friends, colleagues, MPs and senators, and members of the broader Muslim community – many of whom I knew and had deep respect for the work that they do in their communities and across Canada to uphold justice and build togetherness. Something we desperately need right now.

So it was incredibly humbling to be recognized with CMPAC’s Community Partner award that night, for the work that I do with the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group to defend civil liberties in Canada from the impact of national security and anti-terrorism laws, including confronting systemic racism, Islamophobia and racial and religious profiling. It was particularly meaningful to be recognized, given how many organizations and individuals have been doing incredible, tireless work at a particularly difficult time, when we see rising instances of hate, racism and xenophobia both in Canada and internationally. I also can’t talk about the work of the ICLMG, and would never be in a position for this kind of award, if it weren’t for the incredible work of my colleague, Xan Dagenais, ICLMG’s research and communications coordinator.

My award followed wonderful and thoughtful remarks from Imam Sikander Hashmi, Executive Director, Canadian Council of Imams, and MPs Salma Zahid and Jenny Kwan, who both were also presented with awards. It inspired me to think about the importance of coming together and working collectively for peace and justice, and how that is also reflected in the ICLMG coalition, bringing together organizations from across sectors, including human rights, legal, faith based, environmental, labour and humanitarian groups. It allows us an opportunity to share across sectors and communities, to learn from each other, to build and show solidarity and to take on difficult issues in a thoughtful way, but also in a way that no one group could do on its own. This includes work like addressing systemic racism in the treatment of Muslim-led charities and humanitarian organizations, the push for greater border securitization at the expense of protecting and welcoming migrants and refugees, addressing the secretive and rights-violating tools used by national security agencies, and confronting the genocide in Gaza and Canada’s complicity in that and other human rights abuses around the world.

I’m incredibly thankful to CMPAC for the recognition, and humbled, but also energized to continue working together. And grateful to CMPAC for bringing us together and the work they do for justice, peace and a better Canada and world. Ramadan Mubarak!