Islamic Centre sets sights on new home

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This article was published 05/01/2024 (726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Islamic Centre has found a potential new home just outside city limits in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, but it will need the City of Brandon’s help in order to make it work.

At the Dec. 19 municipal council meeting in Cornwallis, councillors passed a motion expressing support for the RM to enter into an agreement with Brandon to have water and sewer services extended to a property southeast of the intersection of First Street and Patricia Avenue to service a new Islamic centre.

Attached to the agenda for the meeting were five letters of support advocating for an agreement to be reached between the city and the RM. The letter writers included the Brandon School Division, Knox United Church, the Brandon-Westman Christmas Cheer Registry, the Western Manitoba Science Fair and one individual resident of the city.

Speaking to the Sun by phone on Thursday, centre president Amir Farooq said the property they’re looking at purchasing is a 3.75-acre lot belonging to a member of their community.

He said the centre has signed a memorandum of understanding with the owner to purchase about two acres of that lot if Brandon is willing to extend water and sewer services to it.

The centre is now working on a presentation for an upcoming Brandon City Council meeting to make the case for reaching an agreement, Farooq said. Some discussions with city staff have already taken place.

“We had some meetings with the engineers and with the planning people,” Farooq said. “They are saying that maybe we don’t have enough water in that end of the city, but we have done our water measurements through private engineers. They said that there is enough water, there should be no issue.”

A report attached to the agenda for the Cornwallis council meeting states that while the construction will be beneficial to the city, there isn’t sufficient water and sharing services is not recommended. The report does not list an author and is not dated, but is written from the perspective of the City of Brandon.

The report also compares the Islamic centre’s request to the service-sharing agreement Brandon entered with the Jacobson Group to provide water and sewer for the J&G Homes Arena, which is also located just outside city limits in the RM of Cornwallis.

It states that the arena was considered a benefiting amenity for the city, the infrastructure for the project was funded privately and though water capacity in the area is limited, future capital plans include the construction of a new watermain.

Also, liability issues were identified as another difference.

“Water quality with the proposed service connection may create health risks to the consumer and liability for the city under the provincial issued licence,” the report says.

In late 2022, representatives from the centre went before Brandon City Council to ask for the help in finding a new property within the city. According to Farooq, two potential sites were suggested but they did not meet the centre’s requirements.

The current Brandon Islamic Centre on 10th Street has been too small for the local Muslim community’s needs for several years.

“It’s close to 150 or 160 people coming for Friday prayers,” Farooq said. “Our capacity upstairs is close to 80 to 90 people, so people are actually praying downstairs and upstairs … Right now we are praying two prayers on Friday because we cannot fit all in one prayer.”

To accommodate hundreds of people from both Brandon and surrounding communities celebrating major Islamic holidays like Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the centre has typically had to rent out larger spaces like the Dome Building or Brandon University’s Healthy Living Centre.

“We are hoping that when we have our own place, we want to build in the capacity so that everyone can pray there comfortably and can celebrate all the festivals,” Farooq said. “We are also planning a kind of indoor gym … and also some kind of Islamic school for the youth.”

Despite not yet finding a new home, a recent development that has been beneficial to the centre was finding a permanent imam to lead prayers in August 2022. Farooq said he was brought in from India through the Rural and Northern Immigration Program.

After his arrival, Farooq said the centre has seen its congregation grow and that more of the congregants have been bringing their kids with them to prayer services.

He said he believes that having an established mosque makes Brandon a more appealing destination for Muslim immigrants, with local Muslims including doctors, engineers and professors at both Assiniboine Community College and Brandon University.

Reached by phone, Mayor Jeff Fawcett said he wanted to wait until after the centre addresses council before commenting on the situation. However, he did say that he was aware the centre had been in discussions with city staff on the issue.

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