Canada has been experiencing a torrent of targeted attacks on Christian churches.

Since the announcement in June that a number of unmarked graves had been located near the site of a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, almost 60 churches across Canada have been either vandalized or burned down.

To make this dire matter even worse, very little — if anything at all — has been said or done by our government leaders and law enforcement officials to appropriately address this surge of targeted crimes.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was completely silent on the issue until a press conference in July, when he finally commented that burning down churches is “unacceptable and wrong.” But Trudeau still refuses to refer to this wave of attacks as hate crimes or terrorism.

Our national leader even publicly sympathized with the perpetrators, stating that he “understand[s] the anger” of those who are vandalizing and burning down Canada’s churches and that it is “fully understandable.”

But what does the average person think? Are most Canadians even aware that this is going on?

Would they consider these acts to be hate crimes, or terrorism?

Or would they perhaps say that this behaviour is “understandable” — or maybe even justified? I took to the streets of downtown Toronto to ask.

To sign our petition calling on Justin Trudeau, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, and Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair to recognize the burning of churches as acts of hate and terrorism, work forcefully to end them, and provide safety for Christians and their places of worship, please visit SaveOurChurches.ca.