Church fire on Waterhen Lake First Nation considered suspicious: RCMP

A fire that destroyed a church on the Waterhen Lake First Nation is considered suspicious, according to the RCMP.

Officers from the Meadow Lake RCMP detachment were called to the scene early Thursday morning. Police said the church was destroyed in the blaze, but no injuries were reported.

Police said their initial investigation determined the fire was suspicious in nature, and asked anyone with information on the fire to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

According to a social media post by Catholic Church Meadow Lake, the fire occurred at Our Lady of the Smile Church.

“The people feel violated that this has happened in their community. They are struggling with all sorts of feelings including anger, frustration, hurt, sadness, loss and resentment, and they are praying for the person/persons who have done this. Their thought is that only someone who is really suffering could do such a terrible thing to their brothers and sisters,” the post read.

This incident is not the only church fire in the province recently.

Last July, the Polish Roman Catholic Church near Redberry Lake burned to the ground in a suspicious fire, which occurred during a rash of Canadian church burnings and vandalism that followed the discoveries of suspected unmarked graves at the sites of several former residential schools.

Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, is set to visit Canada in July following an apology for the church’s role in the residential school system. That apology was delivered in Rome.