Our Story

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is a prominent civil liberties and advocacy organization with over 15 years of professional activism and public service.

We were formerly known as the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relatons (CAIR.CAN). Founded in July 2000 by Canadian Muslim advocates in Ottawa, CAIR.CAN was a fully independent and distinct organization from the Washington DC-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a pioneering American Muslim civil liberties organization.

We originally adopted the CAIR.CAN name because CAIR was and remains an established and recognized brand in civil rights activism within North American Muslim communities since 1994. Using this well-known brand, over the years we successfully established ourselves from a fledgling Canadian organization into one whose professionalism and accomplishments made us a leader in promoting civic engagement and defending civil liberties.

Given our Canadian heritage and mandate, we believed the organization needed to look to the future to meet the growing needs and aspirations of Canadian Muslim communities. Thus, on July 6, 2013 the organization became the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

NCCM represents a natural evolution for the organization and better reflects our Canadian roots and focus. As the NCCM, we both continue and widen our work as successful advocates for civil liberties and champion the role of diverse communities in upholding Canadian pluralism.