The Mosque as Heritage Site: The Al-Rashid at Fort Edmonton Park and the Politics of Location

Abstract

In 2013, the Al-Rashid Mosque celebrated a major milestone that almost did not happen: its 75th anniversary. As the oldest purpose-built mosque in Canada, the building has had a storied history: constructed with the combined support of a burgeoning Muslim community and the City of Edmonton, the Al-Rashid had served the Muslim and, more broadly, the Arab community until congregants outgrew the space during the 1980s. By 1992, the building sat in disrepair and was slated for demolition. Its move to Fort Edmonton Park the same year sparked controversy as debates over the building’s historic significance played out in town hall meetings and in the news media. As one newspaper columnist remarked, the fort was publicly forced to accept a “foreign intrusion.” This article discusses the history of the Al-Rashid Mosque, but also examines the social and political narratives the mosque articulates as one of Canada’s only Islamic heritage buildings. I am interested in the ways in which Edmonton’s diverse Muslim community along with Fort Edmonton Park currently animates the Muslim settlement history and how its location within the fort continues to raise questions over its heritage value today.