Workers prepare the mosque to be shipped to Inuvik. (CBC)The little mosque built on the prairie is finally heading north.

Winnipeg's Muslim community set out in April to build a mosque to ship to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, to serve about a dozen Muslim families in that community.

Despite some obstacles the building hit the highway Tuesday, northward bound. It has to be on a barge in Hay River before freeze-up.

Hussain Guisti, the project manager, said the building is not quite complete but the finishing touches can be accomplished in Inuvik, in the Mackenzie Delta just north of the Arctic Circle.

"It's a great relief, a great joy to the people up there," said Guisti of what will be the world's northernmost mosque. "They need the mosque for a long time. They don't have one right now — they are renting now a small trailer nine by 14 feet that doesn't accommodate any of their needs, not even their daily prayers. They are really excited to have this."

The Zubaidah Tallab Foundation helped raise the funds to construct the building in Winnipeg and then ship it 4,000 kilometres by truck and barge to Inuvik.