Local

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Mosque being shipped to Inuvik

Built in Winnipeg, transported north

By: Carol Sanders

Posted: 04/15/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

First there was Little Mosque on the Prairie. Soon there will be a little mosque on the tundra, thanks to a Muslim charitable foundation based in Manitoba.

"We are now going to send a mosque to the North Pole," joked Hussain Guisti, spokesman for the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation.

Growing fast

ACROSS Canada, the Muslim faith is growing.

StatsCan projects that by 2031, the number of people having a non-Christian religion in Canada will almost double to 14 per cent in 2031 from eight per cent of the population in 2006. Of non-Christians, about 50 per cent will be Muslim -- up from 35 per cent in 2006.

The proportion of Canadians with a Christian religion will decline from 75 per cent to about 65 per cent.

The share with no religion will rise from about 17 per cent to 21 per cent.

-- Source: Statistics Canada Study: Projections of the diversity of the Canadian population

A 1,554-square-foot mosque is being prefabricated in Winnipeg and shipped more than 4,000 kilometres to its new home in Inuvik.

The Northwest Territories town of 3,500 people that includes close to 100 Muslims is located two degrees above the Arctic Circle along the east channel of the Mackenzie River Delta.

The resource-rich town has seen an influx of tradespeople and service providers, including many of the Muslim faith.

"Every single taxi driver is a Muslim," said Guisti, who's counted 24 cabbies in Inuvik. He said there are architects, engineers, business owners and their families getting settled there.

Instead of a mosque, the faithful in Inuvik are using a nine-by-14-foot trailer, which holds less than a fifth of them at one time.

The Inuvik Muslims purchased two lots of land for a mosque and approached other mosques and foundations for help to build one. When a mosque member told an old friend -- who happened to be on the board of the Manitoba foundation -- about their needs, the board agreed to help Inuvik.

The registered charity was established in memory of Zubaidah Tallab -- the late mother of Guisti's wife, Dr. Susan Ghazali. The foundation was set up to raise funds to build a mosque in Thompson.

That accomplished, the foundation grew, spread out and now helps a variety of causes, said Guisti.

"We don't turn down any project that strives to help the poor, the needy and to serve the community," said the spokesman. For instance, the foundation sent food to Garden Hill First Nation last summer, he said.

"The foundation deals extensively with new refugees coming to town... Our range of activities are very wide because there's a wide array of needs out there. We don't stick to one thing."

The pre-fab construction of the mosque for Inuvik will cost close to $185,000, and the shipping another $80,000.

The mosque will be shipped 2,440 kilometres from Winnipeg to the town of Hay River, N.W.T., said Guisti. From there, it will be transferred to a barge and moved 1,850 kilometres farther on the Hay and Mackenzie rivers to Inuvik, said Guisti. They plan to ship it before the last barge of the season leaves Hay River Sept. 30, he said.

The biggest challenge right now, though, is paying for it.

"We've only started fundraising," said Guisti in Thompson.

He said he has "no doubt" they will raise the funds "based on hope and the assumption that God and people will come forward."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 15, 2010 A7

(You must be logged in to post your reaction)

Your reaction?

More Local

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.