I have been living in Renfrew for 3 years now. I came as a Muslim convert from Ottawa and I've noticed that there is a divided Muslim community here. Places of worship are a very important part of our faith as is a church to a Christians faith. My daughter has been embarrassed by me since we've moved here because of negative statements made about me and negative reactions towards me as a white Muslim. Opening a place of worship for us to gather in the rec center or ma-te-way park would be a great way for our Muslim community to get together and gradually raise awareness that we're no different then anybody else and should be included like everybody else. For me and my children it's been hard living here because we know there's other Muslims but we don't have the resources to come together and get to know them. Adding a place of worship won't just be including a place of worship for us it will be helping us in all aspects of our life like finding halal meat or making friends as well as teaching each other and our children new things. If this doesn't happen I'm afraid that the negative views on us will not improve in this town. Islam is not responsible for bombing and terrorist attacks that isn't our faith our faith is peaceful and loving and needs to be understood from people who don't know and by helping us come together we can achieve this.