Opening of Yellowknife's Islamic Centre delayed again amid funding shortfall

The opening of the Islamic Centre of Yellowknife has been delayed yet again.

The long-awaited centre was expected to open in March, but an official says it's still short on funding and may not open until later this year.

"I know the people were heartbroken who were supposed to pray in Ramadan there," said Shaykh Habib Hasan, the Imam of Yellowknife mosque.

"Everyone is patient about it, but they cannot wait to pray in the new Islamic Centre."

Yellowknife has been without an Islamic centre since 2019, when the previous one in Old Town was demolished to make way for the new building.

Fouzan Khan is the CEO of the Canadian chapter of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which is co-funding the project. He says the news is disappointing for many, as the project has faced construction and funding delays.

The centre is 70 to 80 per cent complete, but costs have more than doubled since construction began almost three years ago, from $2.5 million to $6.5 million.

"It's the cost that has been the most challenging part... working with construction in Yellowknife is very different than in some other parts of the country," Khan said.

"It's a unique project in itself. And the community is smaller, so it doesn't have the internal capacity to complete it. Rallying people across the country to get behind this project has also been more of a challenge than we anticipated."

Yasir Hussain, operations manager at ISNA, says they are still about $1 million short.

He says that the logistics of northern construction have been a key factor in rising costs.

"If you were to break it down to two things, the delays and the ballooning costs came right down to the shorter construction season, the weather, and just manpower for a highly customized project like this," Hussain said.

Although national fundraising continues, Hussein hopes for a final push from the Yellowknife community to cover about half of the remaining costs, or about $400,000 to $500,000.

"That would cover interior millwork, the carpet, painting, and all the other static elements that go into this project," Hussain said.

He remains optimistic that the centre will open by August or September.

Space challenges

With construction ongoing, Hasan says members of the city's Islamic community have been gathering in a temporary space at Monkey Tree Place. But, he says it's too small for larger gatherings.

"The place is still small, sometimes gets very hot, sometimes gets cold, but Alhamdulillah, people are coming," Hasan said.

Although the Monkey Tree location accommodates about 100 people, Hasan says it still feels small for the local Muslim population of 400 to 500, many of whom are attending night prayers during Ramadan.

"So we've rented the Multiplex on weekends so that the ladies can also attend the prayers," Hasan said.

He adds that once the new centre opens, the community will be able to host more programs, including family activities and youth initiatives.

"So it's not only for us … everyone is welcome," Hasan said.

Abdul Karim Yalahow, who's lived in Yellowknife since 1997, remembers when there was no mosque. At the time, a small group of 30 to 40 Muslims gathered on Fridays at the public library.

That changed in 1999, when they found a former daycare in Old Town up for sale.

"We scrambled, about 10, 11 of us, collected money from each other to put that money down," Yalahow said.

The Islamic Society of North America-Canada funded the rest, and Yellowknife Muslims prayed there until it was demolished in 2019 to make way for the new centre.