North Canada Muslims Feed Needy

A sign is prepared for the new Arctic Food Bank, which opened Friday in Inuvik

TORONTO – Giving back to their community, the Muslim community in Inuvik city in the Northwest Territories of Canada have opened the second food bank to help homeless and needy people with a variety of canned and dry goods.

"I say, 'Why not?' if there is a need," Muhammed Ali, the vice president of the Muslim Welfare Centre, told CBC on Friday, May 1.

"This is Canada. We are going out of the country, we go thousands and thousands of kilometers to the other countries of the world to help. Why not help the people here first?"

Ali was talking about Inuvik's Arctic Food Bank which is sponsored by the Muslim Welfare Centre, a charity organization based in Toronto.

Stocked with pantry items like flour, rice, soup, and canned tuna, the Food bank was inaugurated on Friday, May 1.

Being the second in Inuvik, the food bank is located behind the Midnight Sun Mosque.

"We will be working with the local hunters here, and with the fishing communities, to provide us the fish and caribou meet, reindeer meat, or whatever the local meats are," Ali said.

The Muslim Welfare Centre recently launched a successful lunch program in Regent Park that feeds hundreds of local residents.

Copying efforts by other Canadian Islamic charities, such as Islamic Relief Canada, the group runs a halal ‘Meals on Wheels’ program for Muslim seniors, and hands out hundreds of lunches to the city’s homeless every weekend.

In 2014, Islamic Relief Canada gave significant financial contribution to the Daily Bread Food Bank and the Flemingdon Food Bank; to the Sick Kids Foundation for training of Palestinian doctors; and Habitat for Humanity, to build affordable housing for underprivileged families.

For 2015, the charity budgeted a significant amount of funds to assist domestically, including in the sectors of food security, refugee services, health, education and social services.

Muslims are the fastest growing religious community in Canada, according to the country’s statistical agency, Statistics Canada.

Canada’s Muslim population increased by 82 percent over the past decade – from about 579,000 in 2001 to more than 1 million in 2011.

Muslims represent 3.2 percent of Canada’s total population.