The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association has developed strong relations with the Indigenous community. As we continue to focus on contemplation, reflection, and prayer, we learn about the unfair treatment that the Indigenous community has faced in the past. Recently, the remains of hundreds of Indigenous children have been found in unmarked and mass graves at the sites of former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. These heartbreaking discoveries were difficult for all of us to accept and comprehend. These are just recent uncoverings of decades of tragedy and difficulties faced by the Indigenous community. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association continues to strive to build long-lasting sustainable relationships with the Indigenous people.
Our first task as directed to us in relation to Indigenous communities, by the World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Caliph, His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, was to form bonds of friendship and love to support the process of healing. In 2016, when His Holiness visited Canada, there was a special audience of Indigenous leaders in Calgary. His Holiness remarked to them that, “You are the caretakers of the land of God” and “I hope and expect that now our Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Canada keeps closer contact with you and that our friendship grows”.
Since then, we have endeavored to honour that instruction from His Holiness and to build close friendships with different Indigenous communities across Canada.