Footage Shows Attempted Arson of Regina Church, Latest in String of Church Burnings

A still from surveillance footage shared on social media shows a suspect appearing to start a fire at the office entrance of Regina’s Blessed Sacrament Parish on Feb. 9, 2024. Screenshot via The Epoch Times

The pastor of Regina’s Blessed Sacrament Parish has released surveillance footage that shows a masked man starting a fire at the downtown church last week, the latest in a string of arsons at churches across the country that began in 2021.

Rev. James Hentges shared footage of the Feb. 9 incident on social media over the weekend to ask for the public’s help in identifying the suspect.

The 48-second video shows a masked individual pouring out the contents of a gas can near the church’s office entrance. The suspect, who can be heard uttering profanities after several failed attempts to ignite a blaze, finally lights the contents of the can, causing flames to engulf the entranceway. The suspect then jumped back from the fire and fled on foot.

When city fire crews arrived on scene at 3:40 a.m. Feb. 9, they discovered the back door to be on fire and extinguished the blaze “quickly,” according to a Regina Police press release.

The blaze caused the parish to cancel mass until Feb. 14 due to cleanup of the damaged area, according to the church website.

The surveillance footage, which has gone viral on social media, has sparked outrage among many.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a Feb. 12 post that he was “thinking of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic community in Regina, after their century-old church was vandalized by arson” and encouraged anyone with information to contact the police.

Referring to the string of arsons, Conservative Senator Leo Housakos asked how “many churches have to be set on fire in this country before we raise the alarm?”

“Where is our Prime Minister?” Mr. Housakos said in a Feb. 12 X post.

Independent Ontario MP Kevin Vuong said he hoped the “ arsonist is found and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Churches are more than just religious institutions,” he said in a Feb. 12 social media post. “My parish is a community hub of support, education, and charity. It’s also become a food bank collecting food to ensure no one goes hungry.”

Ongoing Church Arsons

The first wave of church fires started after the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced in May 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had located possible burial sites of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The sites have so far not been excavated to confirm.

Eleven churches in western Canada were burned to the ground in the weeks following the announcement in Kamloops. Each of the fires were determined by investigators to be arson.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke against the church burnings in 2021, telling reporters it was “unacceptable and wrong that acts of vandalism and arson are being seen across the country, including against Catholic churches.” But he also said that anger against the federal government and “the Catholic church … is fully understandable given the shameful history.”

While the frequency of church burnings has slowed since the initial onset, it has not stopped. A total of 43 fires have destroyed churches in Canada from May of 2021 through December of 2023, according to an analysis by media outlet True North.

There were four church fires in Alberta last December alone. The Beiseker Seventh Day Adventist Church was destroyed by arson just five days before Christmas while an old parish adjacent to the St. Gabriel Catholic Church in the northwestern community of Janvier was burned Dec. 15. Two churches in the community of Barrhead also caught on fire less than two hours apart on Dec. 7. Both buildings sustained heavy damage.

Church vandalisms have also become an issue since the discovery in Kamloops. Fifty-three churches in Canada have been either vandalized or desecrated over the past few years.

While police have made some arrests in relation to the burnings and incidents of vandalism, many have yet to result in arrests or convictions.