With the holiday season fast approaching, fiery festivities struck the Island Gospel Church in Burns Lake on December 20th. When fire crews arrived they found the majority of the building engulfed in flames. The fire has been deemed an arson, with damages estimated to be over five million dollars. This is not the first arson targeting the church and we can be sure that it wont be the last.

Since the 2021 discovery of mass unmarked graves of indigenous children at former residential schools, waves of anonymous unclaimed attacks against churches have spread over the territory controlled by the Canadian state. As of early 2025, at least 85 churches have been reported as vandalized, roughly 50 of which were arsons. Some more generous estimates suggest nearly 120 churches have been vandalized in one way or another.

A large portion of these attacks have taken place on Indigenous reserves in the very communities the church – along with the Canadian state – conducted their attempted genocide. Tension against the colonial institution is palatable.

The simple means used by rebels, their anonymity, and their decentralization makes for something unpreventable by the state. While the practice of burning churches slowed over the last few years, the contagion continues to be relentless.

-Unsung

via:bccounterinfo.