Why are churches burning across Canada? Weak response to religious arson has been alarming

When churches burn across Canada, do they make a sound? The answer, sadly, seems to be no.It began near the town of Penticton, British Columbia, in the early morning of June 21.Sacred Heart Mission and St.

Gregory Mission, both located on Indian tribal lands, burnt completely to the ground.A week later, two more churches came down, St.

Ann and Our Lady of Lourdes, both in Lower Similkameen, BC.Sgt.

Jason Bayda of the RCMP said at the time that fires at “four churches, all Catholic, all on indigenous land … is extremely suspicious.” Like a fire itself, the wave of church arsons spread across Canada’s westernmost province of British Columbia to its easternmost province of Newfoundland, touching all three northern territories. According to Olivia Torrone of the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) who runs the Church Attacks Database, there have been at least 40 church arsons since the wave began in June 2021, and this is just Catholic churches. Non-Catholic churches are burning as well; in total nearly 120 churches in Canada have been vandalized, set ablaze, or burned to the ground, with a married couple living above one of them dying as a result.Yet, as of January 2024, only 12 people had been charged in relation to these — and just one person had been convicted.Attempts have been made to track the church attacks across Canada, but there is no single official site monitoring the attacks, investigations of arrests. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given Canadians mixed messages on the fires, calling them “unacceptable and wrong” on the one hand, while on the other calling the motive for the attacks “real and fully understandable.” Except, it’s possible what’s motivating at least some of these attacks is neither real nor understandable, but the result of unverified claims repeated constantly by the media and the prime minister which have never been walked back, despite the clear lack of evidence.The wave of church attacks began after the ...