Nominator Comments:
Mukthar is the rare Executive Director who not only represents the interests of the organization but is deeply connected with the members of that organization. He spends much of his time advocating the Department of Community Services to provide additional and much needed support for our core members (people with intellectual disabilities). He also advocates for fair remuneration for assistants and increased funding for our day to day activities. And when he’s done for the day he often pops into one of our houses for supper with the people he genuinely cares deeply for. L’Arche Cape Breton is an organization centred on people with intellectual disabilities, our core members. Our mission is to make known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities revealed through mutually transforming relationships. A few weeks ago, I was going to attend a meeting with an organization looking to start a day program for people with disabilities. Mukthar asked me which core member I was going to invite along. To my great shame, I hadn’t considered involving a core member. He subtly reminded me of the power and importance of core member participation in developing this program. It became a teachable moment for me and for the other organization. Though our four year mandate comes from the whole community, Mukthar is the one that calls us to focus on what we have decided to do together. Even with all his many tasks such as collaborating with the Department of Community Services, working on the budget and connecting with core member families, he remains laser focused on the mandate. Whenever we get stuck in the everyday, he gently steers us back to our plans for the future. At the start of January, he called on our community committees to review their successes and remaining mandate tasks. By doing so he reminded us of our commitments and built us up by showing all the great work we have accomplished together.