LAC LA BICHE COUNTY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — Investigators have yet to determine the cause of a fire in Northern Alberta that left an Anglican church severely damaged.
During the early morning of July 1, as Canadians prepared to celebrate the national holiday Canada Day, the Lac La Biche fire department was called to St. Andrew’s Anglican Church where a fire had already caused substantial destruction.
“As a result of the fire, the Church sustained significant damage inside and out,” a press release from the Lac La Biche Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) read.
While the cause of the fire remains undisclosed, the RCMP are requesting people in the area check their security cameras for suspicious activity.
“Lac La Biche RCMP are asking anyone who resides in the 101 to 103 block of Churchill Drive to check their security footage to look for any suspicious activity during the early morning hours,” the RCMP said.
The 107-year-old church was still used by Anglicans for weekly worship.
Bishop David Greenwood of the Diocese of Athabasca, lamented the fire, writing, “My friends, this morning at 6:30 the church worship center at St. Andrew’s, Lac La Biche, was reported on fire.”
“The fire has been put out, and while we are very grateful that no one has been harmed as far as we are aware, there has been substantial damage to the building,” he added.
St. Andrew’s is just one of many churches in Canada that has burned down in recent years, with many of the incidents being attributed to arson.
In June, a historic 118-year-old Romanian Orthodox Church in Alberta was reduced to a pile of rubble after being consumed by a fire.
Just recently, St. Bernard Catholic Church, a historic 122-year-old Catholic church also in northern Alberta, sustained unrepairable heavy damage after being set ablaze in what police said was an act of arson. Two men were arrested and charged in connection to the fire.
Since the spring of 2021, well over 100 churches, most of them Catholic, have either been burned or vandalized across Canada. The attacks on the churches came shortly after the unconfirmed discovery of “unmarked graves” at now-closed residential schools once run by the Church in parts of the country.
In January, another historic Canadian church, St. Joseph Lutheran Church, located in Hay Lakes, Alberta, was diminished to ashes in what police said was an intentional act of arson on New Year’s Eve.
Last August, LifeSiteNews reported about the destruction by fire of one of the oldest standing Catholic churches in Alberta. Police at the time said the fire was a “suspicious” incident.
Despite the massive number of church fires in Canada, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez made the brazen suggestion recently that the recent slew of anti-Christian church burnings in Canada could be remedied through further “online” internet regulation.