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Queen Elizabeth Building designated for prayers
[Click here to see a bigger and complete version of the poster.]
December 8th was the big Eid Al-Adha festivities.
This time, instead of the Rogers Center, Muslims used another well-known Toronto landmark to hold their celebrations: the Canadian National Exhibition (the CNE). This isn't the first time that these celebrations took place in the CNE, but the organizers promised that it would be bigger and better this time, expecting up to 15,000 people from around the Toronto area.
The CNE becomes a giant fairground for two weeks in August as it hails in Labor Day and the end of summer. This event is simply known as "The Ex". The theme song "Let's go to the Ex" is sweet music to thousands of young children, who have been celebrating the end of summer with carnival rides, hot dogs and cotton candy for decades.
The grounds started off as an agricultural fair, which later branched off into the August fair ground. The rest of the year, the many buildings are used for smaller trade shows, exhibitions and athletic demonstrations.
Other multicultural events also take place there, like the Chinese New Year.
But the Muslim Eid celebrations are the biggest yet. They also made extensive use of the Ex's facilities, including rides for children, and the Queen Elizabeth Building for prayers.
Various Toronto institutions set up a food drive, co-sponsored by the CBC and Little Mosque on the Prairie's. The show's caste (many of whom are non-Muslim) also attended to meet their "fans" and to help with the food drive.
Toronto and Ontario officials, including John Tory, leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and Ontario's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle were in attendance.
Here's how the Muslim Association of Canada describes the event:
MAC envisions Muslims as a community in Canada that is an essential, integral and vibrant part of this society yet maintaining its religious attributes and values. In aiming to integrate the Muslim identity into the Canadian social fabric, MAC has dedicated itself to events such the Eid Festivals. The Muslim community represents 10% of the GTA population and continues to grow each year. Given Eid is a very important celebration for Muslims, establishing a united gathering that represents such a multicultural community directly strengthens the Ontario heritage. This celebration is unique compared to most other events in the GTA; the events gather a diverse attendance that directly reflects the cultural mosaic of Ontario.A nice contradiction, on the one hand advocating the multicultural nature of the Canadian society, on the other hand maintaining a Muslim exclusivity. But, this is common. Muslims will use the multicultural fabric to establish themselves, their families and their religion while excluding everyone else.