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Finding her place
by By Tamar Satov, CA Magazine, 11/1/2005
When Roshan Jamal came to Canada in the 1970s, she longed for an inclusive Muslim community like the ones she grew up with in India and Africa. While Toronto did have a small Muslim population at the time, it wasn’t a good fit culturally for Jamal and her family.
“I didn’t have a place where I felt I belonged,” says the 60-year-old CA, who searched for a mosque where men and women were treated equally. “I didn’t know where we could go.”
So when a local philanthropist approached Jamal in 2002 with an offer to head up a new Islamic centre that would stress gender equality and provide a forum for open dialogue, the then-partner at RSM Richter in Toronto knew it was an opportunity she could not pass up. In 2003, Toronto’s Noor Cultural Centre opened with Jamal as president and CEO, offering lectures, debates and events to Muslims and other visitors. It’s also a place where men and women can pray and study together in a nonsegregated and open atmosphere.
Coming to Noor was a brave move for Jamal (who now works as a principal at Richter three days a week) as few women lead Muslim groups. But Jamal was never one to be confined by gender roles. In India in the 1950s, girls weren’t allowed in school, but she wanted to study so badly that her father arranged for her to learn at home and take exams with the other students. Similarly, Jamal was faced with challenges obtaining her CA designation. “I was in my early 30s with four children — I was not the typical graduate,” she says. Furthermore, when she was articling her husband was diagnosed with lymphoma and told he had six months to live, although he eventually recovered. (Jamal’s many achievements are recognized in a documentary airing next month on Canadian Learning Television and SCN, part of the Mother Tongue series, a women’s history of ethnic Canada.)
The next challenge for Jamal is to see Noor forge relationships with other Muslim organizations and work with them to accept diversity within the religion. “That would be a great achievement,” she says.
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This series of educational videos was made possible with funding from
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Mother Tongue: A woman's history of ethnic Canada is a 13-part TV series that documents Canada's multicultural history from a female perspective. Each program tells the story of a notable woman in one of Canada's communities, including a Black fugitive slave, an Acadian mail order bride, and an Icelandic suffragette.
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