The Iqaluit Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, has its first Kingdom Hall. Construction volunteers completed the 50-seat Kingdom Hall on October 14, 2022. This new meeting place is the northernmost Kingdom Hall in Canada. The Iqaluit Congregation was formed in 2010 and has been holding meetings in a school gymnasium.

The building project, which was delayed for two years because of the pandemic, posed several logistical challenges. Iqaluit, which means “place of many fish,” sits on Frobisher Bay, on Baffin Island. It is accessible only by air or sea. Also, building materials could not be found locally. This meant that tools and materials had to be shipped to the building location. Additionally, because of the weather, the window for construction was only August through October.

The 127 metric tons (140 U.S. tons) of building materials and tools were assembled and staged at an Assembly Hall in Ontario. These were then loaded into 12 sea containers and three oversized shipping crates and transported to a port near Montreal, Quebec. From there, they traveled via ship through the St. Lawrence Seaway, out to the Atlantic Ocean, and finally into Frobisher Bay. As there is no port in the bay to accommodate large vessels, the containers were transferred to barges. Tugboats maneuvered the barges to shallow waters. Then, during low tide, loaders retrieved the containers and brought them ashore.

The design of the Kingdom Hall incorporates several advanced construction features that will equip the building to withstand the freeze-thaw cycles and the extreme climate of Iqaluit, where the average winter temperature is minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22ºF).

Some 40 construction volunteers from six provinces traveled to the remote location to help. Brother Jason McGregor, one of the volunteers, stated: “From the logistics of getting the construction materials to the far north, to navigating how to solve unexpected supply problems, nothing could stand in Jehovah’s way. It was faith-strengthening to watch the progress each day.”

We rejoice with our brothers in Canada over their new Kingdom Hall in this “place of many fish” as they continue the vital work of being “fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19.