The Masjid Bilal is a chunky grey building just off Logan Avenue surrounded by warehouses and railyards. It looks more like a bunker than a mosque. 

But on a Friday afternoon in late June, its green-and-white carpeted interior is humming with activity. Two men in white robes and flat woolen caps are seated on the carpet poring over a copy of the Qur’an. A few young boys dodge through hallways, poking curious noses into open doors. At the back, next to a table piled with prayer mats, two girls in hijabs share schoolyard chatter. In the kitchen, women are cooking up pots of rice and chicken for people who will soon arrive for Friday prayers. 

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The Masjid Bilal is a community hub for members of Winnipeg’s African diaspora as well as Muslims from many other countries. 

It’s also home to the Bilal Community and Family Centre, an innovative, community-centred nonprofit that is meeting vital needs for newcomers in this city. 

Francis, who prays regularly at the mosque, fled his native Chad two years ago because of threats to his safety. He made his way to Minnesota, then crossed the border into Manitoba by night, stumbling over muddy fields to claim asylum in Canada. (Francis asked to use a pseudonym for this story because he doesn’t want his family in Chad to read online about what happened to him.) 

Francis soon found himself living alone in Winnipeg, isolated and struggling with depression. His wife in Chad, unaware that he was barely making ends meet, cut off contact with him because he wasn’t sending enough money home. Francis turned to alcohol and, one night, in a desperate state, stole a bottle of whiskey from a liquor store. 

When police showed up at his door, Francis was mortified. He tried to explain to the officers that this was not who he was. Francis was given a court date. The judge chastised him for behaving so irresponsibly, for failing to think of his children and for putting his asylum claim at risk. 

“I’ve never done this in my life,” Francis said. “Right now, I’m not even sleeping, I’m too stressed.” 

The judge asked Francis if he was religious. When Francis said he was Muslim, the judge referred him to the Bilal Community and Family Centre’s restorative justice program. If Francis completed the program, the judge said, he wouldn’t have a criminal record. 

The restorative justice program is the brainchild of Muhaidin Omar, a lanky, gregarious man who dresses in crisp blazers, laughs often and speaks with an earnest intensity. 

Omar is one of the imams at Masjid Bilal and executive director of the Bilal Community and Family Centre. He was born in Somalia, the son of a religious scholar, but left home at age 12 to get an education. He graduated with........

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