Iqaluit's 'igloo' cathedral being rebuilt

The rebuilding of of Iqaluit's igloo-shaped Anglican cathedral has begun, nearly five years after the existing church was badly damaged by arson.

St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral, once an iconic structure in Nunavut's capital, was badly damaged in the Nov. 5,  2005 blaze, which RCMP have said was deliberately set.

Workers are starting to put up the new church's steel skeleton, using building materials that arrived on Friday. The church blessed the materials and the construction workers on Sunday.

"They'll see the dome-shaped, igloo-type shape taking place, and for them it will mean, 'Finally, we're beginning, after a long delay,'" Rev. Brian Burrows, the acting pastor at St. Jude's, told CBC News.

Built by volunteers in the 1970s, St. Jude's Cathedral's distinctive dome-shaped structure made the church a popular landmark and community meeting place.

New company hired

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

The start of construction follows years of fundraising, as well as some obstacles along the way, Burrows said.

"There was, first of all, a false start with the original construction company [that] went bankrupt about four years ago, I think," he said.

"Since then, they've renegotiated with a firm called Triodetic, and they have decided to send the material for the new cathedral [into Iqaluit] by air."

Burrows said the initial construction will just be on the cathedral's exterior, which he expects to be completed by the end of October.

A lot more material and money — about $1.25 million — will be needed to construct the church's interior, he said.

Church officials say they hope the new cathedral will be completed in time for Christmas 2011.