A fire that destroyed a historic Anglican church in Canada in the early hours before Sunday worship last year is now being investigated as arson. This comes as the nation grapples with a rise in church arson attacks.
St. Anne’s Church of Toronto, a congregation of the Anglican Church of Canada, was destroyed by a fire that completely engulfed the structure on June 9, 2024.
The Toronto Police Service announced Monday that authorities were now investigating the fire as a “suspected arson.”
In response to the news, the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and St. Anne’s released a joint statement expressing sadness while also thanking authorities for their work.
Bishop Kevin Robertson, a suffragan bishop of the Toronto diocese, was quoted in the statement saying that he was “devastated to hear that the fire that destroyed the congregation of St. Anne’s building on Gladstone may have been deliberately set.”
“As this new reality sinks in, we pray for the congregation of St. Anne’s. May they continue to be a light to the community, providing hope and compassion to those in need,” Robertson stated. “We pray for the person or persons who may have perpetrated this act, that they might seek forgiveness and healing.”
The Rev. Hannah Johnston, priest-in-charge of St. Anne’s, was quoted in the statement as saying that while the loss of the building “has been devastating,” the “community is resilient.”
“Our faith tells us that there is hope even in the face of suffering and death, and that new life can spring from the ashes,” she said. “The church is the people who gather in worship and in service of others, and we look forward to worshipping and serving in this neighborhood for many more years to come.”
St. Anne’s Church was built in 1908 in the Byzantine Revival style, with 10 local artists contributing various murals to the interior during the 1920s. The building was officially designated a national historic site in 1997.
In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of church buildings in Canada that have been the targets of violent attacks.
A major reason for this was a false speculation in 2021 that there had been mass graves with hundreds of bodies of indigenous children found at former Catholic-run residential schools.
Scholars later critiqued such claims, noting that, among other things, the sites were either part of official cemeteries that included adults or had no remains of any children after all.
Nevertheless, Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox churches across Canada were among those that were either vandalized or burned down soon after the allegations were released.
Last year, the Canadian independent media outlet True North reported that 96 church buildings had been desecrated, destroyed or vandalized after the false mass grave claims.
