A Conversation with Amira Elghawaby, Former Representative on Islamophobia

Muslim Link's Editor Chelby Daigle chats with journalist Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s former Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia Amira Elghawaby is a journalist, advocate and policy leader who served as Canada’s first Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia (2023–2026). Her work has been recognized nationally and globally, including her selection as one of the world’s 500 Most Influential Muslims, and being awarded a recipient of the Jack Layton Progress Prize and the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Amira recently founded the Muslim Communities Research Observatory (MCRO), an independent hub for research on Muslim communities. We gather credible research from around the world, catalogue it so it is easy to search, and make it usable for the people who act on it: advocates, community leaders, journalists, decision-makers and everyday citizens. Amira was also the first editor of Muslim Link's original Ottawa community newspaper, founded in the fallout of the the War on Terror. Muslim Link's current Editor Chelby Daigle will chat with Amira about her career advocating for Muslim storytelling in Canada for over 20 years, what lessons she took from her time as the Government of Canada's Special Representative on Islamophobia, and what her hopes are for the next 20 years of Muslim storytelling in Canada.