Government Data Confirms Increase in Arson Attacks on Churches, Synagogues Since 2021

A police officer walks past what’s left of St. Jean Baptiste Parish Catholic church in Morinville, Alta., after it was burned down on June 30, 2021. The Canadian Press/Jason Franso

The federal government has confirmed a surge in arson attacks on churches and other religious institutions following claims of mass graves being discovered at a former residential school site located in Kamloops, B.C., in 2021.

According to a cabinet response to an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons on Sept. 16, there were 90 arson attacks in 2021 and 74 attacks in 2022, up significantly from the average of 43 police-reported arson attacks on places of worship from 2015 to 2020. The document did not cite data after 2022.

In May 2021, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation of Kamloops first announced that ground-penetrating radar had located the remains of 215 “missing children” on the site of a former residential school. The number of graves found at Kamloops was later revised to 200. The site has not been excavated and no remains have been uncovered to date despite a $7.9 million federal grant for field work.

The Inquiry document said the attacks included incidents “where the most serious violation was arson,” as well as incidents that occurred on surrounding property of the religious sites, “such as an attached cemetery or adjacent parking lot or inside a religious institution or building.”

The Inquiry’s figures on arson attacks, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter, did not differentiate between churches and other religious institutions. “Religious Institutions include churches, synagogues, temples and mosques but exclude cemeteries not physically located on the religious property,” the document said.

The document did not include information related to the sentencing for people convicted of committing arson, or the average length of sentencing, despite Conservative MP Marc Dalton requesting the information in the order paper.

Four Alberta churches burnt down in suspected arson attacks in December 2023 alone. Two of the churches in a community northwest of Edmonton were destroyed in the span of an hour.

The House of Commons voted unanimously last year to consider measures “to coordinate the protection of faith communities.” It followed a justice committee task force proposing the appointment of an Anti-Hate Crime Task Force.

“Without freedom of religion, without freedom of movement, without the freedom of speech, there actually is no freedom in this country,” Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman told the Justice Committee before the vote. “It’s one of the things we have to protect.”

Following the Alberta church arsons, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is Jewish, said he stands with “parishioners and Christians across Canada.”

“Attacks on our majority religion are equally disgusting as attacks on minority religions. I hope those responsible are caught & prosecuted,” he wrote on social media.