He worked as a Neighborhood Community Officer in Regent Park for three years where he was heavily involved with the marginalized youth and led many programs (soccer, basketball, cricket and boxing) that encouraged the youth to give back and be leaders in their communities. Popalzai has a deep passion and desire to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, Popalzai has provided lectures and information sessions to hundreds of refugees about the role of police and basic Canadian laws and has personally visited many of the refugees in their homes to assist them with their difficulties - ranging from providing them with blankets and clothes to stay warm to getting them wheelchairs for their elderly and disabled.

To date, Project Hope has assisted thousands of Afghan refugees in Canada and has delivered over half a million dollars’ worth of donations to the Afghan refugees as most of them arrived with nothing but the clothes on their back. In 2023, when the earthquake tragedy struck Turkey and Syria, Popalzai and his team raised and delivered more than $112,000 of donations for the survivors of the earthquake. Popalzai chose the name Project Hope as he believes that as a refugee when one is forced to leave their native country – they have nothing but a HOPE. It was a déjà vu for Popalzai as he was in a similar situation when his father (an artist) was forced to flee the Taliban due to receiving death threats in the year 2000. The initiative was created to assist the influx of Afghan refugees arriving in Canada. In 2021, when the world witnessed chaotic scenes of Afghans attempting to flee the Taliban from Afghanistan, Popalzai co-founded Project HOPE. In 2014, Popalzai moved to Toronto to become a police officer with the Toronto Police Service.

Popalzai speaks, reads and writes in five languages. Popalzai graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor of arts in law (honours) and a masters in legal studies.

At the age of 14 years old, Popalzai and his family fled the Taliban and immigrated to Ottawa, Canada. A Detective Constable with the Toronto Police Service’s Homicide Unit, Mustafa Popalzai was born in Kabul, Afghanistan.

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