SAIMA'S AWARDS/ RECOGNITION
2016 Certificate of Recognition, The Calgary Arab Art & Culture Society
2016 Certificate of Appreciation for Syrian refugee resettlement, Legislative Assembly of Alberta
2015 Community Hero, South Asian Excellence Award
2015 Winner of the Community Advocate Award of the Year, M.O.S.A.I.C.
2014 Winner of the People’s Choice Peace Award
2014 Nominee of Muslim Women of the Year Award
2014 Winner of the Muslim Women Role Model Award
2014 Recipient of the Certificate of Appreciation for distinguished service at the Sikh Temple
2012 sole winner of Alberta Civil Liberties & Human Rights Award
POSITIONS HELD
President, Alberta Refugee and Immigrant Support Society
Co-Founder, Syrian Refugee support Group Calgary
Social Capital Tournament Coordinator, Calgary Centre for Global Community
Social Activist, Calgary
Accreditations Coordinator, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary
Program Director, Calgary Islamic Chamber Institute
Program Manager, Consortium for Peace Studies, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary
Program Administrator, Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
President of Canadian Federation of Bridge Builders – Alberta Chapter
Board of Director of Project Ploughshares Calgary
Organizing Committee Member, 2020 Vision for Humanity Network
Founding Member of the Jewish Muslim Council of Calgary
SHORT BIO
Saima Jamal is one of Calgary most active community organizer, social activist, humanitarian, and volunteer, currently serving as the Social Capital Tournament Coordinator for the Calgary Centre for Global Community. Using her uniquely multi-faith, multi-cultural and multi-community approach to problem solving, Saima has taken the lead in many social movements and concerns in our city throughout the last 6 years, but none has been so prominent as the work she has been doing for the Syrian Refugee Support Group Calgary since Sept 2015. She along with army of supercharged community changing volunteers has been in the forefront of community engagement work in welcoming Syrian refugees to Calgary and easing their resettlement process. Previously Saima has worked for 15 years at the University of Calgary in various positions, work that has included such varied experiences as administering the training of public health physicians and managing the Consortium for Peace Studies in The Faculty of Social Work. At the same time she has been a long time federal and provincial volunteer with the Liberal Party. However she has never been afraid to cross any aisle as she always worked with anyone of any background who shared positive and good intentions. Her mobilizing 1000s of Calgarians to work towards making Calgary a global voice for peace, for anti-racism and Islamophobia issues and for gender issues as well as her efforts for Calgary’s Syrian refugees has been very well covered in the media. We can all be proud of her more than significant peacebuilding efforts and compassionate work that has ranged through issues as diverse as conflict in the Middle-East, Africa and Latin America through to Pakistan’s fight against terrorism, our global war against deviant terrorist groups, curbing radicalization in Calgary, and finding reconciliation for sectarian issues in the Middle East as well as civil war in South Sudan.
Long Bio
Saima Jamal is a community organizer as well as a Calgary based peace and justice advocate who works passionately in improving the world by working for human rights, conflict transformation, interfaith, political activism, gender issues, humanitarian aid, climate justice, food justice, social justice, educational initiatives and issues of compassion. Saima is well-known in Calgary for be the founding member of the Syrian Refugee Support Group Calgary and for mobilizing 1000s of people to work towards making Calgary a global voice for peace in the Israel Palestine conflict, Pakistan’s fight against terrorism, global war against deviant terrorist groups, curbing radicalization in Calgary, finding reconciliation for sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Syria as well as civil war in South Sudan. She is an invited speaker in community events, a youth mentor, volunteer coordinator and various event’s hosts. In 2014 alone Saima organized around 10-12 events that enhanced the consciousness and education of the Calgary community in various local and international issues. Through her position as the former Program Manager of the Consortium for Peace Studies at the University of Calgary she engaged students, academics, members of the public and different community organizations toward organizing, promoting and supporting initiatives like the Calgary Peace Prize, the Calgary Peace Run, the Uprising Playwriting competition for Peace, Politics and Society, the Summer Institute in Peace-building and the Peace Talk Speaker Series.
As the founding Program Director for the Calgary Islamic Chamber Institute, she strives to create business networking opportunities that unite Muslims and non-Muslims together in the pursuit of business and professional development by purposefully partnering with businesses from diverse backgrounds, finding and sharing simple and effective best practices and above all bringing the voice of Muslim women in these networks that transform business and sustain success.
As founding past President of the Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Federation of Bridge Builders, she successfully established 7 Bridge Builders Scholarship Award for high school students to combat racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other religious and cultural discrimination.
As key member of the 2020 Vision for Humanity and Board of Director of Project Ploughshares Calgary, she organizes the annual symposium on human security worldwide and the Memorial Lantern Event for nuclear abolition.
Saima is the recipient of the Community Hero by South Asian Excellence Awards, Community Advocate by M.O.S.A.I.C, People’s Choice Peace Award, Alberta Civil Liberties Award, YMCA Peace Medal Nominee (twice), recipient of Calgary’s Dashmesh Centre’s Certificate of Appreciation for Distinguished Service in the Sikh Temple and Hayatul Muslimah’s Certificate of Recognition as a community Role Model. Along with her community work, Saima worked at the University of Calgary for 15 years and is a mother to a son named Alif.
Saima Jamal has a unique charisma, enhanced by her calm enthusiasm, her attentiveness to those around her, her vision and enterprising spirit, and her astonishing capacity for effective, timely task completion. She draws people to her not just because she gets things done, but also because she seems driven by an enthusiasm totally unrelated to any interest in self-promotion. If I were to think of a "big picture" of a truly inspiring future for human beings, and then look closely at the pixels in that big picture, many of those pixels would look a lot like Saima." - Dr Arthur Clark, founder of the Consortium for Peace Studies, University of Calgary, founder of Calgary Centre for Global Community, Queen's Diamond Jubilee Winner, Retd Neuro Pathologist, Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary and Captain (Retd.), U.S. Army Medical Corps.
"Saima has been a tireless advocate for social justice and peace in Calgary. I continue to value her important work to bridge the cultural divide between Islam and western religions and cultures. Thank you Saima!" -
Dr David Swann, MLA Calgary Mountainview
