Yellowknife’s long-awaited Islamic Centre is set to open its doors early this year.
Nazim Awan, former chair of the Yellowknife Islamic Centre, said construction is around 80 to 90 percent complete. He expects the new centre will open in March, save for any unexpected delays.
“Yellowknife as a whole, Muslim and non-Muslim, everybody is waiting for the Islamic Centre to open so that we can go back to a place where people know, ‘oh, this is the Islamic Centre,'” he said.
“It will be certainly a very happy day for Yellowknife when we open the door for the Islamic Centre.”
The previous centre, located in Yellowknife’s Old Town, was torn down in 2019. Construction of the new building has since been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and funding concerns among other challenges.
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In 2022, the federal government announced it was providing $686,910 toward the project alongside $860,738 from the Islamic Society of North America or ISNA Canada.
Awan said ISNA Canada owns and manages the project and continues to support the delivery of programs in Yellowknife.
He said due to the small size of Yellowknife’s Muslim community, they decided to partner with ISNA Canada early on to ensure the success of the new centre. He said they are “very grateful” to ISNA “for their ongoing support for this meaningful investment in our community.”
While construction continues, Awan said members of Yellowknife’s Islamic community have been gathering at a temporary space in the Monkey Tree plaza and renting larger facilities in the city for big events.
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Awan said a permanent Islamic Centre will bring the community “back to a normal.”
He said the facility, which will include a mosque and education centre, will be a community space for people to worship, get support, socialize, network and volunteer. He said non-Muslim community members will also be welcome to learn about things such as Islam and Arabic languages.
“It is a multi-purpose facility where you can not only go for your religious obligations but also to be part of a community and your sense of belonging,” he said.
One unique design feature of the new centre will be an intricate dome, featuring interlocking linear wood elements, a skylight and silver siding, as first reported in Canadian Architect.
Wayne Guy of Guy Architects, which designed the building, said the dome “is a symbolic representation of the vault of heaven” and will be located above the prayer room.
Guy said the design of the dome was inspired by muqarnas, an intricate three-dimensional decoration found in Islamic architecture, as well as the beaver dam, in a nod to the North.
“We stylized the beaver dam concept with the concept of Islamic architecture tradition and practice to sort-of amalgamate it into something that I think, at the end of the day, is quite inspiring, both from the light that it gives inside of their prayer hall but also as a gateway to Yellowknife’s Old Town,” Guy said.
Guy told Cabin Radio in mid-December that contractors were “on the home stretch” to completing the building. He said all the framing on the main floor was done, drywall was being installed on the second floor, about 60 percent of the outside siding had been installed, most windows were in place and one of two minarets – tall, slender towers that are typically part of a mosque – had been framed.
“I think this is a wonderful sort of facility for the community and I think it shows any sacred building takes a lot of tenacity and dedication by the patrons of the facility,” he said.
“So we applaud the community and the sustained effort to get this building, which I think has a significant, wonderful contribution to Yellowknife, completed. And we’re very proud to be a part of that process with them.”
