Research Meets Faith

Student Profile By Samantha Chater

Fatima Qaraan spent years researching the thousands of child marriages and common-law relationships that still take place in Canada. These unions, rooted in cultural traditions, cut across communities and can have lasting effects on generations.

After writing her PhD thesis on the issue at York University, Qaraan decided she wanted to shift from research to more direct advocacy and is pursuing a Master of Psychospiritual Studies at Emmanuel College.

“I realized that taking a spiritual approach would make more of an impact than just publishing a dissertation,” she said. “I want to be in the rooms, able to advocate, support survivors and connect with children at risk.”

Qaraan’s doctoral research highlighted why child marriage continues in Canada. Federal and provincial laws allow underage marriage with parental permission, while cultural and gender expectations reinforce the practice. The Child Marriage Research to Action Network estimates that thousands of Canadian youth ages 15 to 17 have entered formal or informal unions in recent years.

“Every single time I mentioned that my research was focused in Canada, the reaction was the same — people had no idea it was happening,” she said. “That was a big part of why I wanted to study it, to show that this isn’t just a ‘somewhere else’ problem.”

But her research also made clear that evidence alone wasn’t enough. To push for change, she wanted tools that would allow her to engage directly with families and communities. That’s what led her to Emmanuel College, one of two colleges that make up Victoria University in the University of Toronto.

The MPS program at Emmanuel College prepares graduates to serve as counsellors, spiritual care providers and psychotherapists, integrating clinical skills with spiritual depth. For Qaraan, that training — combined with the program’s emphasis on interreligious engagement — was exactly what she was looking for. Since child marriage spans faith and cultural traditions, she believes an interfaith approach is critical.

For Qaraan, this perspective is both professional and personal. Her own background spans Islamic, Christian and Hermetic traditions, and she hopes to write comparative theology that highlights common ground across sacred texts.

“It’s about finding the common ground that makes real healing possible,” she said.

Qaraan’s commitment to the issue stems from her own upbringing. Raised in a conservative Muslim family, she saw how expectations around gender shaped her mother’s and other relatives’ lives, many of whom married young.

“It wasn’t something to be discussed,” she said. “It wasn’t something to be spoken out against. I thought, I have freedoms and choices the women in my family never had and I want to use that to help.”

Her first weeks at Emmanuel College affirmed her decision. Counselling training and practices such as gathering in the Indigenous Healing Garden gave her a sense of what it means to combine healing with scholarship.

“My years in academia showed me what was missing,” she said. “At Emmanuel, I see space for the artistic, the spiritual and the grounding practices alongside the academic.”

Looking ahead, Qaraan sees her future in direct service to survivors and children at risk.

“I want to bring advocacy and healing together in a way that makes real change possible,” she said.

Photo: Neil Gaikwad