Iqaluit igloo church gets $500K donation

The rebuilding of Iqaluit's iconic igloo-shaped Anglican cathedral has received a $500,000 boost from a mystery donor.

Officials at St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral learned of the anonymous donation by email earlier this month, as they were in the midst of rebuilding the cathedral, which was damaged in a 2005 fire that police suspect was arson.

"You might expect somebody to give $5,000, $10,000, that sort of thing. But half a million — that's a large amount of money," Rev. Brian Burrows, the interim rector at St. Jude's, told CBC News.

Not even Burrows knows where the donation came from, although he said he suspects much of the money might have come from an individual, group or corporation based in Ottawa.

The $500,000 donation will be used for the cathedral's steel exterior skeleton, which is almost complete. Work on the skeleton began in August.

On-going construction inspires donations

"With the actual construction going on, I think it encourages people to give," said Doug White, a member of the St. Jude's fundraising committee.

"It generates people's commitment to go forward from that point, and I think it's a great thing."

Once a familiar landmark in Nunavut's capital city, St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral was badly damaged in the Nov. 5, 2005, blaze, which RCMP believe was deliberately set.

The fire destroyed the cathedral's interior, rendering it structurally unsound. The building was demolished the following summer.

The new cathedral is currently slated to open next year.

But before that can happen, Burrows said, the church still needs another $1 million to finish the exterior and $3 million to complete the interior.

"People said, 'You'd never do it'," he said. "Well, here's a sign that perhaps the faith is justified.

"Before then, we were told, 'Yes, it's going well, but you need another $1 million.' Then all of a sudden, you open an email, and there's half of it already."