Regina Muslims plan mosque on former bar site
Islamic association celebrates deal to buy Pump Roadhouse property
REGINA Regina’s Islamic association is set to become the owner of the Pump Roadhouse, and it is calling on local Muslims to visit the shuttered Victoria Avenue bar this weekend.
They won’t be coming to drink alcohol, but tea — as they celebrate the site of their future mosque.
The Islamic Association of Saskatchewan (Regina) has spent years trying to find a new space for worship.
Its president, Munir Haque, said a deal to buy the property is almost finalized. His plan is to demolish the existing bar and build a new facility, giving the city’s Sunni Muslims their first purpose-built mosque.
“I’d like for it to be an iconic Islamic structure that reflects local architecture as well, one that will express our identity as Prairie Muslims,” said Haque, who is a landscape architect by training.
The association reached a deal with the Pump’s owner, Mark Smith, who said he wasn’t initially planning to sell the property.
But the offer convinced him it was time to close a bar that has stood on the site since 1972.
“All good things come to an end,” said Smith.
Regina is already home to a mosque, about three kilometres away on Eastgate Drive. But its worshippers hail from the Ahmadiyya movement, not from the Sunni Muslim population represented by the Islamic Association of Saskatchewan.
The new space is sorely needed to accommodate a community with an estimated 13,000 members. The association’s current building on Montague Street is “filled to capacity,” according to Haque. On the busiest days, he said some have to pray outside on the front lawn.
Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said a new mosque has been “a long time coming.”
“I certainly am very pleased and supportive of the location of a mosque in our city, no matter where it is,” he said. “This has been a long-standing objective, and council has previously stated very clearly that it supports the creation of a mosque.”
Fougere said he hopes the proposed location won’t attract the kind of opposition that hit an Islamic prayer hall that came to Assiniboine Avenue East two years ago. It triggered a petition from nearly 100 residents concerned about noise, parking and traffic.
But Fougere added that the Victoria Avenue site seems unlikely to raise those issues, while parking and traffic needs will be addressed during the building permit application process.
“There’s not a lot of residences in the area there, so it’s a bit of a different dynamic,” he said.
The deal follows years of frustrated efforts to find a suitable site for a mosque. Past president Faisal Khan said the association has faced “more than a fair share of problems to reach this stage.”
Starting in 2012, the Rural Municipality of Sherwood rejected two applications to develop land owned by the association on Highway 33. Khan then looked to Regina, and found an industrial site steps away from the Leader-post building on 12th Avenue East.
Council celebrated the idea at the time, with the mayor calling it a “wonderful decision.” It passed zoning changes in September 2017 to clear the way for religious institutions in Tuxedo Park.
But the association later learned that the site was contaminated with hydrocarbons, according to Khan.
As he looked out at the Pump Roadhouse parking lot, Khan said he foresees a place where Muslims can come together and work for the betterment of the community.
He said it met almost all the criteria on his checklist, including proper zoning, central location and a wide expanse of land.
“All the problems have been overcome,” he said.
Haque said the site will be convenient for worshippers, many of whom live in the southeast. A mosque on the route to and from work will help them fit Friday prayers into their schedules.
“It’s not too far from downtown and it’s not too far from the southeast,” Haque explained. “They’re both areas that right now are kind of under-serviced.”
Haque said he hopes to start construction within a few years. But there’s still plenty of work ahead, including fundraising efforts. He said he’ll be relying heavily on his board and community members.
He said it’s a chance for them to leave an imprint on Regina.
“For people like me or my children who have grown up in this city, it’s a good opportunity for us to put our fingerprint on the city that we grew up in and that we’ve contributed to,” said Haque.