The Salt Spring Forum presents author and human rights advocate Dr. Monia Mazigh for a special evening discussion about the challenges facing Muslim women in Canada.

Monia Mazigh was born and raised in Tunisia and immigrated to Canada in 1991. She was catapulted onto the public stage in 2002 when her husband Maher Arar was deported to Syria, tortured, and held without charge for over a year. During that time, Mazigh campaigned vigorously for Arar’s release and later fought to re-establish his reputation.

Mazigh then wrote a memoir entitled Hope and Despair, about her own ordeal after her husband was arrested. She has also written two novels: Mirrors and Mirages, which tells the stories of four Muslim women living in Canada; and Du pain et du jasmine, about the events of the Arab Spring.

Mazigh is the National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. She holds a Ph.D. in finance from McGill University and has worked at the Universities of Ottawa and Thompson Rivers.