Breast cancer and Islamophobia addressed on Pink Hijab Day

The Muslim Student Association at Lakehead University is fighting breast cancer, and prejudice.

The group held the fourth annual 'Pink Hijab Day in the North' on Wednesday.

Association president Farhan Yousaf said the global initiative raises money for breast cancer research, while addressing the issue of Islamophobia.

"I think there's a lot of misconceptions about Muslims in general that they're not involved in a lot of things. We want to break that barrier and show that.. we live in this society and we want to contribute."

Yousaf said since hijabs are only worn by women, he opted for a pink shirt.

Organizer Manahil Alraddadi was wearing a pink hijab and white lace headband.

She came to Canada from Saudia Arabia.

'People do understand'

She said she wondered how people in Thunder Bay would react to her hijab.

"So in the beginning, my family and I were like 'How can we go there'. Will people in Thunder Bay accept us? So we discussed taking off our scarves, our hijabs. And then we came here and in the first few days we saw that people do understand, and they do know about us, and we were okay."

Alraddadi and fellow organizer Sabeera Azhar said they both appreciate the chance to answer questions and clear up misconceptions people have about hijabs.

Azhar said outreach events like this are very important in light of last week's shooting in Ottawa, and the death of a soldier in Quebec.

"I feel sad. I feel grief. Because Canada is supposed to be a safe place to live. And when events like that happen, you start to think 'what can I do to help?"

Organizers said last year's event raised close to $1,000 for breast cancer research.

They were hoping to surpass that amount this year.