Another church burns in Canada, as the number of vandalized churches soars past 100

The historic St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto was consumed by fire over the weekend, destroying more than a dozen “priceless” depictions of the life of Christ, reported the Toronto Star.

While it’s unclear that arson is at work in the latest fire, the conflagration is one in a string of fires and vandalism in Canada against Christian targets that number more than 100 incidents since 2021.  

In 2021, activists jumped the gun when they reported the finding of “mass graves” of native peoples in Canada dating from the 19th century, supposedly tied to Christian-run government schools.  

The New York Times headlined the story as: ‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada, as if children had been the victims of genocide and tossed into unmarked graves.  

Ground-penetrating radar initially “discovered” the “mass grave” sites, but subsequent excavations over a two-year period have failed to produce human remains, said the New York Post.  

“I don’t like to use the word hoax because it’s too strong but there are also too many falsehoods circulating about this issue with no evidence,” Jacques Rouillard, a professor emeritus in the Department of History at the Université de Montréal, told the Post. 

The result of this and similar anti-Christian, leftist hype has been a wave of violence against Canadian churches, critics say, which the mainstream press and some politicians even cast as “understandable” because of the false finding of the mass graves. 

“I understand the anger that’s out there against the federal government, against institutions like the Catholic Church. It is real and it’s fully understandable, given the shameful history that we are all becoming more and more aware of and engaging ourselves to do better as Canadians,” said the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the church fires.   

Critics contrasted Trudeau’s views on violence against Christians as “understandable” with his quick condemnation of vandalism against an Islamic Center in Canada.  

“Any opportunity he can find to talk about the mythological Islamophobia, he jumps,” said Patrick Brauckmann about Trudeau on X. “A church is torched this week and continued vandalism of Hindu temples, but not a single word. Virtue signaling to pander to the Islamic vote will only backfire on him.” 

Around Christmas last year, Canada’s Alberta Province alone saw four churches burnt to the ground, bringing the annual total to 15, said The National Post.  

That follows 68 Christian churches being burned or vandalized between June and July 2021, according to the Catholic Register.   

“Angry graffiti messages smeared the outside of churches. ‘Colonizers,’ ‘killers,’ ‘if you hurt and/or kill kids, (you) should be burned alive,’ and a slew of f-word epithets were among the many scrawled derogatory missives,” reported the Register. 

As late as February, even as Canada notched its 100th Christian church attacked since the “mass grave” narrative in May 2021, Canadian members of Parliament from the ruling Liberal-NDP party refused to condemn attacks on Christian churches, said the BC Catholic. 

In fact, members of the NDP are even supporting a proposed law which would make denying the existence of the mass graves a crime, said the Catholic Register. 

The trend in Canada is consistent with the experience of Christian churches in the U.S.  

Since 2018, over 400 Christian churches have been attacked in the U.S., with leftist politicians also facing criticism for being slow to respond. 

Catholic Vote’s Accountability Project criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, for conspicuously condemning attacks on the Muslim community, while remaining silent about violence against Christians.  

“We share Governor Hochul’s outrage over intimidation and harassment of the Muslim community, but her statement rings hollow given her silence on the continued attacks against Catholics in New York,” said Tommy Valentine, director of Catholic Vote’s Accountability Project.   

Meanwhile, in Canada, many of the churches attacked by arson and vandalism have stood for generations, serving native communities with weddings, baptisms and funeral rites.  

“I’m angry. I don’t see any positive coming from this and it’s going to be tough,” Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow told the CBC about fires that destroyed two churches in British Columbia.   

Another tribal leader agreed.  

“The church meant so much to all of us, especially our ancestors. When your hurt turns to rage it is not healthy for you or your community,” said Carrie Allison, an elder who helped maintain one of the churches.