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Little damage as suspicious fire probed at abandoned church in northwestern B.C.
BY , Jun 28, 2021 7:17 PM - REPORT AN ERROR
Firefighters' jackets hang on the fence of the burned-out remnants of Sacred Heart Church on the Penticton Indian Reserve, near Penticton, B.C., in a Monday, June 21, 2021, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Penticton Herald, James Miller, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
The Mounties say they are investigating a suspicious fire at an abandoned church in northwestern British Columbia.
New Hazelton RCMP say the fire was reported early Saturday morning on the Gitwangak First Nation and was quickly extinguished with minimal damage and no injuries.
Staff Sgt. Darren Durnin says in a statement that police want to know if the blaze could be linked to four recent fires at churches within Indigenous communities in the south Okanagan.
A social media post from the Gitwangak Band says the former Anglican Church in that community is no longer used and it is in ``no way affiliated'' with residential schools.
Two tiny Catholic churches, one outside Hedley and the other at Chopaka, were destroyed by fires early Saturday, just days after separate fires near Osoyoos and Oliver levelled Catholic churches on band land there.
The fires come less than a month after the discovery of what's believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at a former residential school site in Kamloops.
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