Nazira Naz Tareen was born in India and came to Canada in 1968. She has lived in Ottawa ever since. She graduated in the early childhood education program from Algonquin College in 1973. She was married to Dr. Farook Tareen who passed away in 2012. She is the mother of Shireen, and Omar and has three grandchildren. Nazira is a life member of the Ottawa Muslim Association (OMA) since 1973. She volunteered as a teacher for the Sunday School in the Ottawa Mosque for 17 years from 1977 to 1994 and was the chair of the Sunday School Education Committee for one year. She joined the Ottawa Muslim Women’s Auxiliary (OMWA) in 1973 and served as a Board Member and Treasurer, later as the OMWA President from 1977 to 1979, 1983 to 1984 and again from 1985 to 1986. She served as a volunteer Board of Director of OCISO – Ottawa Carleton Immigrant Services of Ottawa from 1977 to 1980. She represented OMA and co-chaired the Tent Meeting in the Ottawa Conference Centre from May 15 to June 30, 1986 with Susannah Dalfen and Carol Reesor which brought the three Abrahamic faith groups under one roof, an unprecedented collaboration of Jews, Christians and Muslims working together in unity and harmony. Read more… Nazira served as a trustee of the OMA Council of Trust from 1990 to 1992 and 1998 to 2002. She served as the Chair of the OMA Council of Trust in 2001. She is a member of the Christian Muslim Dialogue Group since 1990 and has been a volunteer in the Annual Tulipathon Charity Walk along Dow’s Lake since May 2000. From 1975 to 2015, she introduced Islam to grade 11 students in Roman Catholic high schools (after 40 years, our respected Imam Dr. Zijad Delic has taken over this responsibility). She has introduced Islam at several schools, churches, temples, and organizations. Nazira supports different charitable organizations like Multifaith Housing Initiative, Human Concern International, the Ottawa Food Bank and the Sadaqa Food Bank. After the attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, she organized A Prayer for Peace offered by an Imam, two Rabbis and Priests. The Interfaith Prayer has been a monthly event ever since. With the help from the former Ottawa-West member of parliament, Marlene Catterall, the former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien came to the Ottawa Mosque on Friday September 21, 2001 to announce on national television that Muslims should be protected. That was the first time a Canadian Prime Minister came to the Ottawa Mosque and addressed the Friday congregation. The Ottawa Muslim Women’s Organization was founded on September 30, 2001 after 9/11 to build bridges of understanding between the diverse communities in Ottawa. Nazira served as the OMWO President from 2001 to 2008, and again from 2015 to 2019. The Festival of Friendship (FOF) annual dinner was started by Nazira in April 2002, as a fundraising gala for the OMWO. It is a highly popular and well attended event among the diverse Ottawa community. Nazira has helped refugees from different parts of the world such as The Boat People refugees from Vietnam, refugees from Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo, Palestine, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen. Nazira stepped down as OMWO President on September 30, 2019 (and Dr. Sahada Alolo took over as the 5th President of the organization). Nazira is a board member of the organization and very active within the Ottawa community.