Toronto Metropolitan University Muslim students describe limited prayer space on campus, Eyeopener reports

The Eyeopener, the student newspaper at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), reported on Oct. 21 that prayer space for Muslim students is in short supply at TMU and other Canadian universities, and that many students pray in classrooms, stairwells and library corners. According to the paper, TMU has two designated full-time prayer locations: the Student Community Centre, which has two multi-faith rooms on its third floor, and the EDI Well-being Space on the seventh floor of the Ted Rogers School of Management. The paper cited Statistics Canada as saying almost 10 per cent of Toronto residents are Muslim.

Students interviewed by the paper said the two locations are inconvenient to reach between classes and that the building has been closed at times, including on Sept. 30 for Truth and Reconciliation Day. Student Hasnaa Ismail told the paper the sisters’ prayer room has always been “too small” to fit everyone praying, especially in the afternoon and evening, and that the current prayer spaces are not enough. The Eyeopener said the multi-faith room was moved to a new room on the same floor in February 2026, and that building staff cited accessibility, a lack of communal space and heating and cooling issues. Student Basmah Khalid told the paper the old room looked better than the new one.

The Eyeopener reported that the Muslim Student Association at TMU holds three Friday Jummah prayers at staggered times and has turned people away when the room reached capacity, and that the university recently designated a room for Jummah. It said the University of Toronto’s St. George campus has 16 prayer rooms, two of them dedicated Muslim spaces. It also cited TMU’s website, which says the obligation to accommodate religious observance is “mandatory, not discretionary.”

The paper also reported that Quebec’s new secularism law, Bill 9, bars prayer in public spaces and that, according to CBC as cited by the Eyeopener, universities including Concordia and McGill have closed their prayer spaces. Hadia Mubarak, an associate professor of religion at Queens University of Charlotte, told the paper that students are “not actually asking for any special treatment.”