An influential Muslim group has launched a North America-wide campaign to educate people about their faith, as a means to address the violence and anger that has erupted over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

"This campaign is to encourage better understanding of Islam and the Muslim people," said Sarah Elgazzar, a spokesperson for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, at a news conference in Ottawa.

She made the announcement with Riad Saloojee, executive director of the organization.

The campaign will be a joint effort with the U.S. Council on American-Islamic Relations.

It will be a two-pronged approach. The group will provide a DVD that explores the life of the Prophet Muhammed and the Muslim faith, to those who wish to have it.

The second part of the campaign will include public screenings of the film as well as open houses at mosques.

"We're looking to increase knowledge of Islam and of Muslims in general, and that includes the Prophet Muhammad, a very central figure in Islamic creed. So what we're looking to do is stimulate some positive dialogue about this because I think it's been centered quite negatively on some of the violent images we've seen," Elgazzar said.

She described the campaign as one of the "biggest learning initiatives in the world."

For the most part, the Canadian response to the cartoon protests has been positive, stressed Saloojee. The government, media, and most ordinary Canadians have handled the situation responsibly but more needs to be done.

"We must further discuss these positive actions and continue to create spaces for dialogue, discussion and mutual understanding," Saloojee said.

A recent statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay helped lay the groundwork for the project.

"It was a very balanced statement and it struck, we thought, the right note between freedom of speech and responsible freedom of speech and it also called for greater understanding of Islam and Muslims and greater dialogue between Canadians and Canadian Muslims, so the initiative draws on that," Saloojee said.

But while Canada's treatment of the situation has been laudable, according to Saloojee, the actions of some individual Canadians have been disappointing.

He pointed to Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant's decision to reprint the cartoons in the magazine as a move that could endanger Canadian troops in Muslim countries.

"I think the fact the Canadian government acted very responsibly… will carry some weight in the Muslim world," Saloojee said. "That being said I think people who choose to print the cartoons could put our troops in danger."

The DVDs will be available on the organization's website.