Suspicious fires at two B.C. Anglican churches on First Nations land

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — There have been two more suspicious fires at churches in B.C. — one completely destroying a 108-year-old building on Gitwangak First Nation near New Hazelton.

The RCMP confirm they are investigating that fire as suspicious, and also looking another on Fist Nations land in Tofino that caused less significant damage.

Chief councillor of the Gitwangak First Nation Sandra Larin says it still has not been determined if St. Paul’s Anglican Church was targeted for arson as it seems to have been less than a week ago — but council is offering a $2,5000 reward for anyone with information about how the fire started late Thursday night.

“The church is completely gone, it is just charred remains,” she says.

“Last weekend we had a fire at the front steps in the vestibule. It was very quickly extinguished saving the church building. At that point, we did step up security in the surrounding area to try and prevent another tragedy from happening, exactly to prevent what happened last night. Unfortunately, given the age of the building, being that it was erected in 1893, and it was a fully wooden structure, it didn’t take much for it to fully engulf and burn to the ground.”

But Larin says the Nation is relieved that the fire was put out before it could spread.

“That was a primary concern because fire knows no boundaries, and we do a have very dry climate right now that is prime for forest fires or wildfires,” she says.

“We were very concerned about it spreading and that’s why we’re extremely thankful for the volunteer fire department that contained it within the location. It didn’t spread to the adjacent cemetery, it didn’t spread to the adjacent residences. We were very fortunate that it didn’t cause even more damage to the entire region.”

Larin says people in the community have been left reeling, with many speculating that they have been targeted.

“Our community members are heartbroken, and at this time emotions run from sad to angry–  they pretty much run the gamut,” she says.

“Many were crying at the scene. Many were crying in response to the news, whether they were here on scene or not. Many are angry, and I think anger has stemmed from the rest of the world, awakening to the tragedies of residential schools that we’ve known about for years, and the acknowledgment coming from the rest of the world, certainly the rest of Canada around that.”

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• Separate fires destroy two Catholic churches in southern British Columbia

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Four small Catholic churches on Indigenous lands in rural southern British Columbia have been destroyed by suspicious fires and a vacant former Anglican church in northwestern B.C. was recently damaged in what RCMP said could be arson. The fires occurred less than a month after the discovery of what’s believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at a former residential school site in Kamloops.

The Cowessess First Nation in southeastern Saskatchewan also announced last week that ground-penetrating radar detected a potential 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School. Churches in Alberta and Saskatchewan have also been vandalized or set on fire.

National Chief @perrybellegarde says thoughtful dialogue is the way through the frustration and anger many are feeling after the revelations of the past few weeks related to recoveries at residential school sites across the country. Read full statement: https://t.co/o3iqRRVffO

— AFN (@AFN_Updates) July 2, 2021

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he understands people are angry but burning churches is not the way to proceed.

“I fully understand the frustration and anger many are feeling after the revelations of the past few weeks have laid bare the miseries of the Residential School system. These are tragedies of an almost unimaginable nature for most Canadians. We need to understand what happened and learn to speak openly about it,” he writes in a statement.

“Destroying property will not help us build the peaceful, better and accepting Canada we all want and need.  I believe in processes that unite rather than divide. Violence must be replaced by turning to ceremony and all that our old people taught us about peaceful co-existence and mutual respect. Thoughtful dialogue, not destruction is the way through this.”

With files from Paul James, Bailey Nicholson, and The Canadian Press