Lytton, BC Fire
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
Of course if you are going to do any, you pretty well have to do them all, and it wouldn't be very long before the money runs out!
Who knows for sure! From what I can gather pretty well everyone is running a deficit these days unless you are the top thousand richest people in the world!
CN? They're raking it in. That type of work tendered out and is handled locally by contractors.
If towns and cities on the Prairie are smart enough to create firebreaks, why on earth don't BC towns and cities?
Last edited:
Land of the freeloader. Someone else is supposed to do it for them.
I guess it's easier to create fire breaks through wheat and rape seed than through Douglas Fir measuring 20,000 board feet!
You've never been here if you believe that.I guess it's easier to create fire breaks through wheat and rape seed than through Douglas Fir measuring 20,000 board feet!
You're mostly right, but I did stay overnight in Regina 54 years ago!
At a holiday inn....no less
At a holiday inn....no less
Okanagan's Church Arsons: First Nations, Locals and Father Obi Speak Their Minds
- By Drea Humphrey
- |
- July 01, 2021
That’s eight churches that have been destroyed or damaged by fire, in less than 10 days! All beginning just weeks after the first of multiple press releases, the locating of un-marked grave sites near residential schools.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that these fires are more than likely a hate-motivated attack against Christians, including the indigenous Christians that attended these churches they were running.
It can’t even be seen as an act from vigilantes as it is hurting people who had nothing to so with running residential schools, and endangering the lives of indigenous families who live close to the churches, should the flames have become uncontrollable.
Yet, nearly everyone in a position of power is refusing to talk about or even condemn this from continuing from happening.
The majority of the burnt churches have gone down in British Columbia, where silent Premier John Horgan, previously announced that an anti-racism and anti-hate network called Resilience BC, would be funded $540,000 annually “to respond to and prevent future incidents of racism and hate”.
The network's own website describes religious hate crimes as crimes that are “targeted against communities or individuals based on their perceived or misinterpreted religious attire or affiliation”.
I have yet to come across anything to show our taxpayer dollars have gone to good use when it comes to condemning the targeting of these churches and the communities they served.
We travelled down to show you firsthand what was left of St. Gregory’s in Oliver BC, and Penticton's Sacred Heart Church. We interviewed community members including Hereditary Chief Eneas and Father Sylvester Obi Ibekwe, to let you know exactly what the church meant to the community.
If you are concerned about Canada quietly allowing Catholic churches to go up in flames here are two ways you can help.
Share our video at FindTheArsonist.com about the $10,000 reward Rebel News is prepared to offer any tipster that gives us information that leads the arrest of the suspected church arsonist(s).
And support our investigative reports that require travel and accommodation expenses by donating what you can at RebelFieldReports.com
777 Albert St.You're mostly right, but I did stay overnight in Regina 54 years ago!
At a holiday inn....no less
Hahaha like Sask. doesn't have forests near towns and citiesI guess it's easier to create fire breaks through wheat and rape seed than through Douglas Fir measuring 20,000 board feet!
Hudson Bay Sask.
Prince Albert Sask.
Sask. is home to a huge Boreal Forest where a Million acre forest fire is just regarded as a large forest fire
Firebreaks don't have to be an ugly clearing surrounding a forest town. They can be parks and gardens that put the land to use for all.
Well written Guardian article about church burnings
Firefighters inspect the damage at the burned-out Roman Catholic St Jean Baptiste church in Morinville, Alberta, Canada.
After hundreds of unmarked graves were found at Canada’s former Catholic-run residential schools, churches in First Nations territories have been destroyed by suspected arson
For more than a century, the clapboard church set amid rolling hills in western Canada has been a spiritual home to the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.
To build St Anne’s, residents of Chuchuwayha Indian Reserve #2 travelled 40 miles to the closest town, hauling lumber back to their community by horse and wagon.
To reach its pews, generations of congregants would travel miles by foot, past ponderosa pine and sagebrush.
But early last Saturday, thick smoke filled the air and flames ripped through the ageing wooden structure near Hedley in British Columbia. By the time local fire crews arrived, the church had been reduced to a pile of ash.
Fire destroys a Catholic church in Morinville, Alberta, this week.
The community’s fire chief said nothing could be done to save the wooden building. Police say the fire that destroyed the church was suspicious and probably deliberately set. It was the fourth Catholic church on First Nations territory destroyed by fire in less than a month.
“The church meant so much to all of us, especially our ancestors,” Carrie Allison, an elder who helped maintain the church, said in a statement. “When your hurt turns to rage it is not healthy for you or your community.”
As Canada grapples with the discovery of more than 1,000 unmarked graves of Indigenous children at the sites of former residential schools, many have directed their grief and anger at the Catholic church, which ran more than half of the schools across the country.
Disease and hunger were rife at the schools, and survivors have described physical and sexual abuse, often at the hands of priests and Catholic laypeople.
In recent weeks, nearly two dozen churches have been burned or vandalized across the country – eight of which occurred in First Nations territories.
Justin Trudeau joined Indigenous leaders and provincial officials in condemning what are widely suspected to be acts of arson.
“I can’t help but think that burning down churches is actually depriving people who are in need of grieving and healing and mourning from places where they can grieve and reflect and look for support,” the prime minister said on Friday.
But for many Indigenous people, churches summon contradictory and conflicting emotions: they are the spaces built by their ancestors where generations were baptised and buried, but they also represent the destruction of Indigenous culture and more than a century of fear and physical abuse.
From the 19th century until the 1990s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were obliged to attend state-funded schools in a campaign to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian society. More than half were run by the Catholic church; thousands of children died of disease, neglect and other causes.
“Those innocent souls were scarified for colonialism,” said Amelia McComber, an Indigenous practitioner and theologian. “And that sacrifice has become the focal point of the hurt and the trauma that has gone on for generations in our communities.”
Entering the schools, children were forbidden to speak their mother tongue, and forced to convert to Christianity. Generations later, many of Indigenous people in Canada still identify as Christian.
“We are a spiritual people and that spirituality was transferred to Christ, because that was the only way our people could pray [in the residential schools]. That was the only way that they could worship,” said McComber.
A man sits and prays at the field where the remains of over 750 children were buried on the site of the former Marieval Indian residential school in Cowessess First Nation, Saskatchewan, last month.
Some have suggested that First Nations communities should consider cutting all ties with a religion they say was imposed on them.
“It is a legitimate debate for First Nations to talk about removing Catholic churches from our territories, and establishing our own faith as the official religion,” tweeted the writer Robert Jago. “Canada and [First Nations] – these aren’t 100% separate societies – but religion is one of the places they are, or should be.”
But as more churches are burned or vandalized, Indigenous leaders have pleaded for the buildings – many more than a century old – to be spared, despite the anger.
“I can understand it. I don’t like the church. I don’t believe in the church,” chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band told the National Post, after the church in his community was destroyed. “Many residential school survivors hate the church with a passion – but I have never heard any of them ever suggest people turn to this … I talk to a lot of residential school survivors and, sure, there is a lot of hatred and bitterness and anger – but that still doesn’t mean you go and do arson.”
For Allison, a survivor of the Kamloops Indian residential school, the fire has only worsened the pain.
“I think of all our ancestors that helped to build St Anne’s, looking over us and watching all their hard work and the place they cherished burn to the ground,” she wrote. “A lot of us suffered, but this is not how we do things, and this is not our way. It makes me so sick, sad, and I can only hope I do not know you. I feel sorry for you, and I hope you’re satisfied.”
Burned churches stir deep Indigenous ambivalence over faith of forefathers
Firefighters inspect the damage at the burned-out Roman Catholic St Jean Baptiste church in Morinville, Alberta, Canada.
After hundreds of unmarked graves were found at Canada’s former Catholic-run residential schools, churches in First Nations territories have been destroyed by suspected arson
For more than a century, the clapboard church set amid rolling hills in western Canada has been a spiritual home to the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.
To build St Anne’s, residents of Chuchuwayha Indian Reserve #2 travelled 40 miles to the closest town, hauling lumber back to their community by horse and wagon.
To reach its pews, generations of congregants would travel miles by foot, past ponderosa pine and sagebrush.
But early last Saturday, thick smoke filled the air and flames ripped through the ageing wooden structure near Hedley in British Columbia. By the time local fire crews arrived, the church had been reduced to a pile of ash.
Fire destroys a Catholic church in Morinville, Alberta, this week.
The community’s fire chief said nothing could be done to save the wooden building. Police say the fire that destroyed the church was suspicious and probably deliberately set. It was the fourth Catholic church on First Nations territory destroyed by fire in less than a month.
“The church meant so much to all of us, especially our ancestors,” Carrie Allison, an elder who helped maintain the church, said in a statement. “When your hurt turns to rage it is not healthy for you or your community.”
As Canada grapples with the discovery of more than 1,000 unmarked graves of Indigenous children at the sites of former residential schools, many have directed their grief and anger at the Catholic church, which ran more than half of the schools across the country.
Disease and hunger were rife at the schools, and survivors have described physical and sexual abuse, often at the hands of priests and Catholic laypeople.
In recent weeks, nearly two dozen churches have been burned or vandalized across the country – eight of which occurred in First Nations territories.
Justin Trudeau joined Indigenous leaders and provincial officials in condemning what are widely suspected to be acts of arson.
“I can’t help but think that burning down churches is actually depriving people who are in need of grieving and healing and mourning from places where they can grieve and reflect and look for support,” the prime minister said on Friday.
But for many Indigenous people, churches summon contradictory and conflicting emotions: they are the spaces built by their ancestors where generations were baptised and buried, but they also represent the destruction of Indigenous culture and more than a century of fear and physical abuse.
From the 19th century until the 1990s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were obliged to attend state-funded schools in a campaign to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian society. More than half were run by the Catholic church; thousands of children died of disease, neglect and other causes.
“Those innocent souls were scarified for colonialism,” said Amelia McComber, an Indigenous practitioner and theologian. “And that sacrifice has become the focal point of the hurt and the trauma that has gone on for generations in our communities.”
Entering the schools, children were forbidden to speak their mother tongue, and forced to convert to Christianity. Generations later, many of Indigenous people in Canada still identify as Christian.
“We are a spiritual people and that spirituality was transferred to Christ, because that was the only way our people could pray [in the residential schools]. That was the only way that they could worship,” said McComber.
A man sits and prays at the field where the remains of over 750 children were buried on the site of the former Marieval Indian residential school in Cowessess First Nation, Saskatchewan, last month.
Some have suggested that First Nations communities should consider cutting all ties with a religion they say was imposed on them.
“It is a legitimate debate for First Nations to talk about removing Catholic churches from our territories, and establishing our own faith as the official religion,” tweeted the writer Robert Jago. “Canada and [First Nations] – these aren’t 100% separate societies – but religion is one of the places they are, or should be.”
But as more churches are burned or vandalized, Indigenous leaders have pleaded for the buildings – many more than a century old – to be spared, despite the anger.
“I can understand it. I don’t like the church. I don’t believe in the church,” chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band told the National Post, after the church in his community was destroyed. “Many residential school survivors hate the church with a passion – but I have never heard any of them ever suggest people turn to this … I talk to a lot of residential school survivors and, sure, there is a lot of hatred and bitterness and anger – but that still doesn’t mean you go and do arson.”
For Allison, a survivor of the Kamloops Indian residential school, the fire has only worsened the pain.
“I think of all our ancestors that helped to build St Anne’s, looking over us and watching all their hard work and the place they cherished burn to the ground,” she wrote. “A lot of us suffered, but this is not how we do things, and this is not our way. It makes me so sick, sad, and I can only hope I do not know you. I feel sorry for you, and I hope you’re satisfied.”
Last edited:
And some idiot/asshole is about to lose her job and hopefully never work again
“Burn it all down,” Walia tweeted.
The executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association is calling for more Christian churches to be burned to the ground.
Harsha Walia made the comment in a Canada Day tweet in response to news reports of two more Catholic churches being burning down.
“Burn it all down,” Walia tweeted.
According to its website, the BCCLA fights in the courts for “equality rights in relation to mental health, disability, gender, youth, immigration, refugees, race, poverty, LGBTQ2S+ rights, and more. We know looking through an intersectional lens is the only way to fight inequality and injustice. We fight overt and systemic discrimination, and seek to promote fairness and equality in Canada.”
Attacking religious buildings is normally classified as a hate crime in Canada.
Walia’s call to burn churches caused a firestorm of social media anger.
Walia tweet
“This lady needs to be removed from BC Civil Liberties. She is an embarrassment to BC & she has no business been (sic) in that role. She is inciting violence and hate. It’s our people that are going to pay the price for her hate speeches. Violence has no place in our society,” tweeted Chris Sankey@chrisjsankey
“I wonder if the @BCRCMP might like a word with Miss Walia,” said Grant Hayter-Menzies@GrantHayter.
“Unbelievable. Can she be charged for inciting violence?” asked Darshan Maharaja@TheophanesRex
National Post columnist Jonathan Kaye tweeted: “Gee if only @bccla knew that @HarshaWalia was a whack job and mob-violence apologist, maybe they wouldn’t have hired her…. oh wait, they *did* know, because she was very public about it as early as 2010.”
Walia, with a background as a community organizer, was appointed to her role in January, 2020.
The Western Standard has reached out to the BCCLA for comment, but hasn’t heard back yet.
A spree of arson and other acts of destruction have been occurring against Christian churches, focused mostly on indigenous Catholic congregations. The acts range from petty vandalism to lighting fires in or around the churches, destroying many.
As of publication, there have been at least 23 attacks against churches – including at least five completely destroyed by fires, at least three damaged by fires, and more than 15 vandalized to varying degrees.
BC Civil Liberties Association boss calls for church burnings
“Burn it all down,” Walia tweeted.
The executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association is calling for more Christian churches to be burned to the ground.
Harsha Walia made the comment in a Canada Day tweet in response to news reports of two more Catholic churches being burning down.
“Burn it all down,” Walia tweeted.
According to its website, the BCCLA fights in the courts for “equality rights in relation to mental health, disability, gender, youth, immigration, refugees, race, poverty, LGBTQ2S+ rights, and more. We know looking through an intersectional lens is the only way to fight inequality and injustice. We fight overt and systemic discrimination, and seek to promote fairness and equality in Canada.”
Attacking religious buildings is normally classified as a hate crime in Canada.
Walia’s call to burn churches caused a firestorm of social media anger.
“This lady needs to be removed from BC Civil Liberties. She is an embarrassment to BC & she has no business been (sic) in that role. She is inciting violence and hate. It’s our people that are going to pay the price for her hate speeches. Violence has no place in our society,” tweeted Chris Sankey@chrisjsankey
“I wonder if the @BCRCMP might like a word with Miss Walia,” said Grant Hayter-Menzies@GrantHayter.
“Unbelievable. Can she be charged for inciting violence?” asked Darshan Maharaja@TheophanesRex
National Post columnist Jonathan Kaye tweeted: “Gee if only @bccla knew that @HarshaWalia was a whack job and mob-violence apologist, maybe they wouldn’t have hired her…. oh wait, they *did* know, because she was very public about it as early as 2010.”
Walia, with a background as a community organizer, was appointed to her role in January, 2020.
The Western Standard has reached out to the BCCLA for comment, but hasn’t heard back yet.
A spree of arson and other acts of destruction have been occurring against Christian churches, focused mostly on indigenous Catholic congregations. The acts range from petty vandalism to lighting fires in or around the churches, destroying many.
As of publication, there have been at least 23 attacks against churches – including at least five completely destroyed by fires, at least three damaged by fires, and more than 15 vandalized to varying degrees.