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Police are looking for a suspect after surveillance footage caught a man starting a fire at a historic Catholic church in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The church, Blessed Sacrament Parish, posted footage of the February 9 attack on social media and pleaded for those who know anything to contact the Regina Police Service.
In the video, a man wearing a ski mask can be heard swearing while pouring what appears to be gasoline from a jerry can all over one of the entrances into the century-old church, before using a lighter to set the fluid ablaze.
While the video shows flames engulfing the space, local reports indicate that fire crews were quick to respond to the scene and successfully put out the fire before extensive damage occurred.
In an update on its website, Blessed Sacrament Parish explained that due to the arson and “necessary clean-up,” there would be no “scheduled Eucharist” until Ash Wednesday.
As of the time of publication, there have been no updates regarding an arrest or the identity of the suspect.
Arson and vandalism directed at Catholic churches has become a common occurrence in Canada over the past number of years, with nearly 100 different churches being the targets of such attacks since 2021.
The attacks began shortly after the federal government and mainstream media promoted the still unproved and inflammatory claim that hundreds of indigenous children were killed or improperly disposed of at the sites of residential schools once run by the Catholic Church.
The claims, which were promoted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau among others, lack any physical evidence and were based solely on soil disturbances found via ground-penetrating radar.
In fact, in August of last year one such site underwent a four-week excavation and yielded no remains.
Despite the lack of evidence, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation(CBC) and others have continued to push the narrative, even running a report recently that appeared to justify the dozens of attacks against Catholic churches.
