Alia Hogben is the Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW).  She was born in Burma, lived in India, and later lived in a number of countries as the daughter of an Indian diplomat. She currently lives with her family on a farm near Kingston, Ontario, with family.

Founded in 1982, CCMW has two main objectives: to assist Canadian Muslim women and others to learn about Islam and its message of equality, pluralism and inclusiveness; and to assist women to participate as fully as possible in all aspects of living. CCMW does this through conferences, newsletters, publications and close collaboration with sister and partner organizations. CCMW is at the forefront of advocating for changes in policies affecting Canadian Muslims and women in particular.

Alia writes a monthly column on Islam and Muslims for the Kingston Whig Standard newspaper. She also speaks regularly at various domestic and international events and conferences including in Senegal and Britain. As the spokesperson for CCMW, Alia is frequently interviewed by Canadian and international media outlets. 

Prior to joining CCMW, Alia was a Program Supervisor with the Ontario Ministry of Community & Social Services. Her responsibilities included supervising social service agencies for Child Welfare, Mental Health, as well as services for adults with developmental handicaps, and services for violence against women. The work entailed knowledge of legislation, finance, policies and procedures as well as the coordination of all services for a number of counties.

Alia served for four years as the Director of the March of Dimes which provides services for adults with disabilities. She also taught for three years at St Lawrence Community College as an instructor in Human Studies. In this capacity, she taught students at the main campus as well as inmates of a medium security detention facility. She also worked with the Children’s Aid Society as a social worker.

Alia Hogben is the head of CCMW which is the most prominent Muslim women's group in Canada. It's members are shias and sunnis, some quite adherent, some more secular. CCMW took a strong position against implementation of sharia during the debate in Canada on the basis that there is no one interpretation of sharia and that in the way it was being discussed, it would infringe on equality rights in the Charter. A list of CCMW's publications and Alia's conference appearances are in her bio (which may have been forwarded to you by now). On a personal level, Alia is a big proponent of equality rights and the need to uphold these rights in the face of arguments that may be made on the basis of "religion or culture." In my view, she is a good choice because while she is critical of conservative trends, it is also very clear that her intention is positive and that she is trying to bring different threads together in discussion rather than silencing people.

CCMW's main focus has been to educate Muslim women about personal law and to do research about issues affecting Muslim Canadian women, their rights, education and integration. They are also heavily involved in broader equality rights debates as part of civil society coalitions on issues not specifically related to Muslims. They are well known to Heritage Canada and other depts.