Origin
MIC began in the summer of 2021, after the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites sent shockwaves through Canadian faith communities. On July 9, 2021, 75 Canadian imams – organized jointly by the Canadian Council of Imams and Justice for All Canada – signed a public solidarity statement with Indigenous peoples, read at Friday prayer congregations across the country.
Imam Irshad Osman, of the Danforth Islamic Centre in Toronto, took that call further: he proposed a youth program that would move beyond statements into relationship – pairing Muslim youth with Indigenous educators, Elders, and communities for sustained, structured dialogue. That proposal, first developed through the KAICIID International Fellows Programme as an early funder, became Muslim-Indigenous Connection.
We realized the best way to bring this call to action to life is developing grassroots-level awareness of Indigenous communities’ beliefs, values, worldviews, legal orders, and struggles through inter-cultural dialogue. Muslim-Indigenous Connection was born as a result of that realization.
Imam Irshad Osman
Founder, MIC & CMIR
Mission
MIC exists to build authentic, lasting relationships between Muslim and Indigenous communities in Canada – relationships rooted in justice, goodwill, and mutual understanding, not symbolic gestures. The program is run under Canadian Muslims in Reconciliation (CMIR), MIC’s parent organization.
The Muslim-Indigenous Intercultural Framework
MIC’s approach pairs Islamic ethical teaching with Indigenous knowledge systems side by side rather than treating reconciliation as a purely secular social-justice exercise. Sessions draw explicit parallels – for example, between the Indigenous principle of accountability to seven generations and Islamic teachings on honouring the people of the land as a settler community, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad’s acknowledgment of Medina’s original inhabitants. Youth explore Indigenous frameworks such as the Seven Grandfather Teachings and the Medicine Wheel alongside Islamic ethical concepts such as ‘adl (justice), karamah (dignity), amanah (trust), and tawbah (repentance/return).
Why This Work Matters
MIC, the ONLY structured, youth-focused, faith-based Muslim-Indigenous reconciliation program in the world, gives Muslim youth a faith-grounded reason – not just a civic one – to understand and act on reconciliation, while giving Indigenous partners a genuine, sustained relationship with a community that has historically had little structured contact with Indigenous nations in Canada. Program materials describe MIC as one of very few structured, youth-focused, faith-based Muslim-Indigenous reconciliation initiatives of its kind.