2 more Catholic churches burned down in B.C.'s Interior
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
French tourists?
While a "hate" crime is certainly possible, there are possibilities other than hate crime as there are in any building fire. It's also certainly possible to point to many recent instances of instigation all over the place coming from people just itching to get the party started at some one else's house.
While a "hate" crime is certainly possible, there are possibilities other than hate crime as there are in any building fire. It's also certainly possible to point to many recent instances of instigation all over the place coming from people just itching to get the party started at some one else's house.
Not hate crimes. Retribution maybe. Or maybe just spring cleaning.
Nope. It's a genuine bona-fide certified electrified hate crime.
Can't be a hate crime if Indians are doing it.
Always thought they were wagon burners.. they are upping their game to churches
This is right in my own backyard, the closest church about a kilometer from my home. There is little information as to who is lighting the fires, the starting times of the first two were separated by about the time it would take to drive from one site to the next. Mutliple reports of a black pick-up leaving both sites. Well that should narrow it down. No other clues as to who is doing it.
A white SJW probably.
I guarantee the RCMP will have trail cams set up at every church in BC by Monday.
They always get their them.
Arson is a crime though, Jin............not that there is any chance of charges being laid.
"Young" and "boy" were the main characteristics of "prey" around here... no one particular racial group was singled out though.
More like abject stupidity by some hot headed young community members would be my guess, Dixie. The reason the churches are still there is due to the adherence of many FNs to the Catholic faith so I doubt the community thought much of this act of arson.
I'm still amazed that there haven't been hundreds more over the last couple of decades/
Well how many community weddings , baptisms and funerals were held in those churches, I am sure the respected elders are not impressed .
Mississauga pastor resigns after controversial residential school comments
Author of the article
ostmedia News
Publishing date:Jun 25, 2021 • 1 day ago • 1 minute read • 131 Comments
Monsignor Owen Keenan.
Monsignor Owen Keenan. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /Lajuj K'at Marroquín/YouTube
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A Mississauga pastor has resigned and been placed on “indefinite leave” in the wake of making controversial comments about the residential school system.
In a statement Friday night, the Archdiocese of Toronto, Cardinal Collins, said Monsignor Owen Keenan’s resignation has been accepted and he was placed on the leave.
“Regarding Msgr. Owen Keenan, Pastor of Merciful Redeemer Parish in Mississauga, Ont. Cardinal Collins has accepted Msgr. Keenan’s resignation as pastor and placed him on an indefinite leave of absence. We apologize for the pain caused by his recent remarks,” read a tweet from the Archdiocese of Toronto.
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The resignation came after video surfaced last week of Keenan defending the Catholic Church and talking about how “many people had very positive experiences (at) residential schools.”
In the video, Keenan said: “I presume the same number would thank the Church for the good that was done in those schools, but of course that question was never asked. And in fact, we are not allowed to even say that good was done in those schools.”
In the video, followed the discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential school in British Columbia, Keenan also said: “We don’t know how those children died. We don’t and can’t know if they would have died had they stayed at home.”
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Charles Goforth of Peepeekisis Cree Nation of Saskatchewan, right, is joined by Cherokee Eagletail and Ansen Eagletail of Tsuut'ina Nation of Alberta as they drum and sing at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour the 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the facility, in Kamloops, B.C., on June 3, 2021.
AGAR: Plenty of living political leaders who should answer for residential schools
People from Mosakahiken Cree Nation hug in front of a makeshift memorial at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour the 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the facility, in Kamloops, B.C., Friday, June 4, 2021.
GUNTER: Release the residential schools documents
Keenan later apologized, telling CP24 in a statement: “I am deeply sorry, embarrassed, ashamed and shocked at the revelations of abuse, destruction and harm done in residential schools across this country.”
“As a Catholic and a priest, I in no way condone the residential school system, I regret deeply that these places existed, and I lament the harm that was caused,” Keenan said. “If and when I get a chance to meet survivors, I will seek their forgiveness.”
The church was vandalized Thursday.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll free line is: 1-(800)-721-0066.
torontosun.com
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublishing date:Jun 25, 2021 • 1 day ago • 1 minute read • 131 Comments
Monsignor Owen Keenan.
Monsignor Owen Keenan. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /Lajuj K'at Marroquín/YouTube
Article content
A Mississauga pastor has resigned and been placed on “indefinite leave” in the wake of making controversial comments about the residential school system.
In a statement Friday night, the Archdiocese of Toronto, Cardinal Collins, said Monsignor Owen Keenan’s resignation has been accepted and he was placed on the leave.
“Regarding Msgr. Owen Keenan, Pastor of Merciful Redeemer Parish in Mississauga, Ont. Cardinal Collins has accepted Msgr. Keenan’s resignation as pastor and placed him on an indefinite leave of absence. We apologize for the pain caused by his recent remarks,” read a tweet from the Archdiocese of Toronto.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Article content
The resignation came after video surfaced last week of Keenan defending the Catholic Church and talking about how “many people had very positive experiences (at) residential schools.”
In the video, Keenan said: “I presume the same number would thank the Church for the good that was done in those schools, but of course that question was never asked. And in fact, we are not allowed to even say that good was done in those schools.”
In the video, followed the discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential school in British Columbia, Keenan also said: “We don’t know how those children died. We don’t and can’t know if they would have died had they stayed at home.”
Charles Goforth of Peepeekisis Cree Nation of Saskatchewan, right, is joined by Cherokee Eagletail and Ansen Eagletail of Tsuut'ina Nation of Alberta as they drum and sing at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour the 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the facility, in Kamloops, B.C., on June 3, 2021.
AGAR: Plenty of living political leaders who should answer for residential schools
People from Mosakahiken Cree Nation hug in front of a makeshift memorial at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour the 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the facility, in Kamloops, B.C., Friday, June 4, 2021.
GUNTER: Release the residential schools documents
Keenan later apologized, telling CP24 in a statement: “I am deeply sorry, embarrassed, ashamed and shocked at the revelations of abuse, destruction and harm done in residential schools across this country.”
“As a Catholic and a priest, I in no way condone the residential school system, I regret deeply that these places existed, and I lament the harm that was caused,” Keenan said. “If and when I get a chance to meet survivors, I will seek their forgiveness.”
The church was vandalized Thursday.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll free line is: 1-(800)-721-0066.
Mississauga pastor resigns after controversial residential school comments
A Mississauga pastor has resigned in the wake of making controversial comments about the residential school system.
‘It’s a criminal act’: Prominent B.C. Interior Indigenous leader condemns church fires
A prominent Indigenous leader in the B.C. Southern Interior is condemning the acts of possible arson after four Catholic churches burnt down on First Nations land in six days.‘It’s a criminal act’: Prominent B.C. Interior Indigenous leader condemns church fires
Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band, who is also the tribal chair and spokesperson of the Okanagan Nation Alliance, said there is no doubt in his mind the fires were intentionally set.
“I wouldn’t call it suspicious, I’d call it what it is, it’s a criminal act, it’s vandalism. It’s arson,” he told Global News on Sunday.
“Obviously, it’s the same group of people. Why did they do it under the cover of darkness? Because it’s a criminal act and they are criminal.”
On June 26 at 3:52 a.m., the RCMP received a call that the St. Ann’s Catholic Church on the Upper Similkameen Indian Band (USIB) near the small community of Hedley, B.C., was on fire.
Less than one hour later, at 4:45 a.m., police were alerted to another fire at the Chopaka Catholic Church on the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) in Chopaka, approximately 58 kilometers away.
The suspicious fires ignited five days after Catholic churches on the Penticton Indian Band Reserve (PIB) and Osoyoos Indian Band Reserve (OIB) in Oliver were reduced to rubble.
No arrests have been made or charges laid in any of the four fires.
Louie said there is grief and sorrow among Indigenous peoples following the preliminary findings of 215 children in unmarked graves at a site adjacent to the former Kamloops Residential School and an estimated 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval Indian Residential School, reported by the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan.
However, Louie believes the culprit’s anger is likely misplaced.
“It’s misplaced ignorance, stupidity, an alright criminal act by young people,” he presumed.
Louie said worshippers of all faiths should be free to practice their religion where they choose.
“There’s those like me who hate the church with a passion, have nothing to do with the church, but there’s a lot of people, even within my own family, that believe in that religion. People are allowed to worship any which way they want,” he said.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, also denounced the church fires on Sunday.
“It is not really surprising given the fact that there are more and more discoveries made as we move through this tragic issue in terms of unmarked graves in First Nations communities, where there were residential schools,” Phillip said.
“As time moves forward, there will be further discoveries, the numbers will continue to escalate, and I think we can anticipate more backlash and responses from the Indigenous community at large.”
More Canadian Catholic churches were targeted over the weekend.
In Northern B.C., a fire broke out at the century-old St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Gitwangak First Nations land, between Terrace and New Hazelton.
A statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in north-central Edmonton was vandalized with red paint on Sunday, while in Saskatchewan, the doors of a Saskatoon church were covered in red painted handprints.
Louie encouraged peaceful action instead of illegal acts of vandalism in response to Canada’s atrocious history of church-run and government-sanctioned residential schools.
“I think it’s time for the public to demand action and shake up their elected leadership,” he said.
Louie also participated in a convoy of Syilx leaders, Indian Residential School survivors, their families (intergenerational), elders, members, and youth from across the Nation, who journeyed from Penticton to the Kamloops Indian Residential School on Saturday.
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curious what traditional indigenous burial customs involved and if a marked grave was a part of it.