Media Releases

Emmanuel College to open new Muslim prayer space

January 17, 2013

TORONTO, ON — Emmanuel Col­lege of Vic­to­ria Uni­ver­si­ty in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to announces the offi­cial open­ing of a new, ded­i­cat­ed prayer space and spe­cial ablu­tion facil­i­ties to accom­mo­date the needs of Mus­lim stu­dents at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to. The pub­lic open­ing will also include lec­ture on “Root­ing a Cana­di­an-Mus­lim Iden­ti­ty” giv­en by Dr. Ingrid Matt­son, a Cana­di­an Mus­lim.

What: Open­ing of new Mus­lim prayer room and ablu­tion facil­i­ties.

Where: 75 Queen’s Park Cres­cent, Room 119. (By TTC: Muse­um sub­way stop)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/dXQXl

When: Jan­u­ary 22, 2013, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Who: Dr. Ingrid Matt­son, Lon­don and Wind­sor Com­mu­ni­ty Chair in Islam­ic Stud­ies at Huron Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege in Lon­don, ON.

Back­ground: Emmanuel Col­lege cre­at­ed a Mus­lim stud­ies track with­in its Mas­ter of Pas­toral Stud­ies degree in 2012 as part of its com­mit­ment to inter­faith dia­logue.

Emmanuel is pro­vid­ing lead­er­ship in devel­op­ing an exam­ple for oth­er schools, col­leges, and uni­ver­si­ties to fol­low in pro­vid­ing prayer space for Mus­lim stu­dents. “Our Mus­lim ablu­tion facil­i­ties and prayer room pro­vide the only ded­i­cat­ed spaces avail­able on the east­ern side of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s down­town cam­pus,” says Emmanuel’s Prin­ci­pal Mark G. Toulouse. “The response from Mus­lim stu­dents has been heart­felt. They have writ­ten spon­ta­neous thank-you notes to us on an old white board that the Col­lege had planned to remove as part of its ren­o­va­tion of the prayer space.” Toulouse was so touched by these notes that the school placed a new white board in the room as part of its ren­o­va­tion of the room.

The launch of both the prayer space and the ablu­tion facil­i­ties will be cel­e­brat­ed with an address, “Root­ing a Cana­di­an-Mus­lim Iden­ti­ty,” giv­en by Dr. Ingrid Matt­son, a Cana­di­an Mus­lim. Matt­son cur­rent­ly holds the Lon­don and Wind­sor Com­mu­ni­ty Chair in Islam­ic Stud­ies at Huron Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege in Lon­don, ON. She pre­vi­ous­ly direct­ed the first Islam­ic chap­lain­cy pro­gram at the Hart­ford Sem­i­nary, CT. The lec­ture is also spon­sored by the Tes­sel­late Insti­tute, an inde­pen­dent, non-prof­it research insti­tute. A recep­tion, co-spon­sored by Emmanuel Col­lege and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Mul­ti-Faith Cen­tre, will fol­low.

About Emmanuel Col­lege: Found­ed in 1928 and asso­ci­at­ed with the Unit­ed Church of Cana­da, Emmanuel Col­lege, is a con­stituent col­lege of Vic­to­ria Uni­ver­si­ty in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to. Part of the College’s larg­er vision is to rec­og­nize that the con­cepts of jus­tice, good­ness and love are larg­er than any one par­tic­u­lar reli­gion or tra­di­tion can ful­ly define. Emmanuel pro­vides a place where dia­logue and dis­cus­sion can thrive in the pur­suit of the­o­log­i­cal enquiry, diver­si­ty and social jus­tice.

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Kather­ine Bul­lock
Coor­di­na­tor of the Cana­di­an Cer­tifi­cate in Mus­lim Stud­ies Pro­gram
Tel: (416) 813‑4096
katherine.bullock@utoronto.ca