Suspicious fire destroys century-old church in Fort Chipewyan, Alta.
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Roman Catholic Church, on the shores of Lake Athabasca about 280 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, was constructed in 1909.
The historic wooden building was only used occasionally for special services, and sat vacant most of the year. A wave of vandalism followed the reported discoveries last year of unmarked graves at former residential school sites, and a national reckoning over abuses that occurred inside the church-run institutions.A video posted to social media around 4 a.m. Thursday shows Allan Adam, chief of the Athasbasca Chipewyan First Nation, standing in front of the church as it burns."The church is on fire. Completely destroyed. There's no saving that now," Adam says in the video.
He tells residents to move away from the flames as he jumps into a vehicle. He tells people that firefighters are running out of water.