Our Leaders are Canadians with a wide range of expertise working towards the empowerment of Al Salam school students through education, open-mindedness and democratic values.
The Directors
Hazar Mahayni - Al-Salam School Principal
Hazar Mahayni is a Canadian pharmacist who graduated from the University of Montreal, and is a member of the Quebec Order of Pharmacists. She has a long and rich history of volunteer work in the field of Education. She was one of the pioneer founders of “Ecole Al Salam” in 1996 in Montreal; one of the most reputable schools that teaches Arabic in Quebec. Born in Damascus and comes from Syrian origins, she found herself committed to help in bringing relief to displaced Syrian refugee children who were deprived from their minimum human rights in Education. In 2012, Al Salam School was found as the first school in Reyhanli-Turkey for refugees and since then, Hazar dedicated her life, time and energy to support and help educate 1860 children. She is currently the principal of the school and manages 90 staff members. Hazar leads a successful growth of the school and helps build a role model school for future Syria.
Faisal Al Azem - Executive Director
Faisal Al Azem is a Canadian Engineer and activist advocating for human rights and the protection of refugees. In 2012, Faisal testified on the situation in Syria at the Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee and has met with various Canadian Ministers and Members of Parliament to bring to their awareness the gross human rights violations in Syria and the difficult conditions of displaced Syrians. In 2016, he was invited to present to the standing Senate Committee on Human Rights the challenges faced by Syrian refugees in Canada. He is involved in various humanitarian projects in support of Syrian refugees and is a co-founder of the Syrian Kids Foundation. He was invited to speak at various venues on the Syrian refugee crisis, including at the Canadian Council for Refugees, Action Réfugié, Amnesty International Canada and the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. Faisal has several publications on the Syrian crisis and is a frequent commentator on various media outlets on the situation in Syria, including on AJE, CTV, CBC, Radio-Canada, the Ottawa Citizen, iPolitics, Le Devoir and others. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University and a Masters of Applied Science from L’École Polytechnique de Montréal. He is also a member of the Quebec Order of Engineers.