Canada News & Commentary

Churches Are Being Vandalized, Burned to the Ground in Canada

Staff Writer
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Pastor Thai Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who fled to Canada for safety, said it may now be safer for Christians in Vietnam.

Several churches in Canada have been burned to the ground or vandalized in a recent spate of attacks following the discovery of unmarked graves at church-run schools for Indigenous children.

According to reports, more than 600 unmarked graves were discovered at a cemetery near a school in southern Saskatchewa and another 397 were found across two school cemeteries in British Columbia.

The schools, which were said to be run mostly by the Catholic Church, operated for more than 120 years and had some 150,000 Indigenous children in attendance.

The news evidently provided some with reason enough to arbitrarily target churches across Canada, burning several to the ground and leaving others extensively damaged.

From June 21 through to June 26, four churches in British Columbia were destroyed by fire. An Anglican church was also set on fire, however, the flames were extinguished before it caused serious damage.

The Royal Canadian Mountain Police described the fires as “suspicious.”

In Alberta, more than ten churches were vandalised in a single day during the national holiday of Canada Day, or Dominion Day.

One of the churches damaged was an African Evangelical church for refugees who had fled anti-Christian persecution in their home countries.

A Vietnamese church in Calgary was also targeted by arsonists who destroyed part of their church building.

Pastor Thai Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who fled to Canada for safety, said it may now be safer for Christians in Vietnam.

“We are refugees with no means,” Pastor Nguyen told Counter Signal. “We escaped from Vietnam to come here to get more freedom, to live and we think it was a good country – and now it happened to our church.”

Adding, “Maybe it is not safe to be here in Canada compared to Vietnam.”

Calgary Police last week said that they are investigating the vandalism, but expressed sympathy with the attackers by adding, “We must never forget residential schools are a part of our legacy that destroyed the lives of so many Indigenous families.”

Ezra Levant of Rebel News called the statement “shocking,” saying “It offers no sympathy to victims of anti-Christian hate crimes. It immediately adopts the narrative that the churches are to blame, with a half-hearted ‘knock it off’.

“Calgary Christians must assume they’re on their own,” Levant added.

True North reported that at least nine churches have been torched by arsonists since the beginning of June. The organization has also provided a map of every church burnt or vandalized since the grave findings were announced.

In recent days, rioters have also destroyed statues of historical figures, including Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Captain James Cook. The attacks were carried out to the chant of, “No pride in genocide.”

Worth watching is the video response by journalist Lauren Southern who notes, not only that the “recent discoveries” were known well before attracting mass media attention, but that many of the churches that have been attacked are on Indigenous lands. This means many of the church staff and members are likely Indigenous themselves.