Alberta man charged with arson, mischief over burning of church in Coronation
At 12:57 p.m. on September 5, Coronation RCMP received a call about a fire consuming the Evangelical Free Church. Witnesses filmed Nickolas Guy Fortier, 23, coming to the church earlier with a jerry can and saw him return just before noon.
Another Alberta church has burned down, with law enforcement attributing its destruction to foul play.
At 12:57 p.m. on September 5, Coronation and Consort RCMP received a call about a fire consuming the Evangelical Free Church.
Witnesses filmed a man coming to the church earlier with a jerry can and saw him return just before noon.
After a brief RCMP investigation, Coronation RCMP arrested Nickolas Guy Fortier, 23, a hamlet resident. They have since charged him with arson and mischief over $5,000.
Fortier is due in Coronation court on October 13 and has been conditionally released.
The fire which claimed St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hay Lakes Alberta was found to be intentionally started. https://t.co/oah4DOTfzO
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 6, 2023
Alberta RCMP has responded to a rampage of unrelated church fires across the province this year, including multiple blazes in Ponoka, Bashaw and Wetaskiwin.
Over the past year, Alberta RCMP has responded to "multiple reports of vandalism to area churches […] with churches being the target of mischief."
In January, a blaze destroyed the St. Joseph Lutheran Church in Hays Lake, which law enforcement attributed to arson. That investigation remains ongoing.
On February 5, an alleged arson damaged the basement of Okotoks Alliance Church. The fire department quickly extinguished the blaze before it could spread throughout the structure.
"[We located at the scene a] broken basement window and a plastic cap for a jerry can [that] suggested the fire was intentional," said the RCMP in a statement.
Alberta RCMP has charged two suspects for their role in multiple church fires across the municipalities of Ponoka, Bashaw and Wetaskiwin.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 8, 2023
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On February 13, St. Michaels Hungarian Church burned down, with two suspects turning themselves into Bashaw RCMP the following day.
Cameron Moses Wright, 18, of Ponoka County and a young offender who cannot be named, faced arson charges, 13 counts of mischief and 10 counts of breaking and entering.
The minor appeared in court on April 11, with Wright appearing in Stettler two days later.
In April, a 29-year-old Alberta man faced ten counts of arson connected to a decimated church and other damaged structures.
Around 3:30 a.m. on April 28, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints burned down. Fire police declared the blaze suspicious.
According to a recently-published report by the Christian think tank Cardus, "hate crimes" against Catholics have tripled in Canada since 2020. Between 2020 and 2021, hate crimes against Catholics vaulted from 43 to 155 cases.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) April 1, 2023
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"We found some evidence on site that makes the fire very suspicious," said Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) Regional Fire Chief Dan Heney. "The way the fire was acting also indicates it's suspicious."
"This is a devastating loss, especially knowing the high possibility both were set deliberately," he added.
Since 2020, over 70 Catholic churches across Canada have been "suspiciously" vandalized or burned, with as many as ten Alberta churches vandalized on July 1, 2021.
The vandalism came after suspected arson burned down several churches to the ground in suspicious fires nationwide.
In a suspected arson, St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church — constructed in 1908 — burned to the ground on June 30, 2021. Alberta RCMP finished their report into the blaze that September but never made the results public.
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