Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet confirmed this week that more than 400 churches across Canada have been burned, vandalised or otherwise targeted since 2015.
Lifesite News reports the vandalism comes after controversial claims about unmarked graves at former Indian Residential School sites.
The cabinet’s report, released on 19 September, attributes a significant rise in these incidents to unproven allegations that hundreds of children were buried at these schools, specifically the Kamloops school in British Columbia.
Despite initial reports in 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had uncovered human remains, no actual remains have been discovered.
Rise in church attacks
The number of incidents at places of worship skyrocketed following the 2021 claims.
Police-reported data shows 423 incidents since 2015, with 90 attacks recorded in 2021 alone.
This represents a stark increase from the previous average of 13 similar attacks annually before 2015.
“This includes incidents that occurred on the surrounding property such as an attached cemetery or adjacent parking lot or inside a religious institution” the cabinet stated in response to an inquiry by Conservative MP Marc Dalton who had requested statistics on the burning of places of worship.
Government and media response
Opposition members have criticised the Trudeau government’s response to the wave of church attacks.
In 2021, Trudeau acknowledged the vandalism only weeks after the attacks had begun, stating that while such actions were “understandable” they remained “unacceptable and wrong”.
Critics, including Conservative MPs, have accused the government and mainstream media of sympathising with those responsible for the attacks.
A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report highlighted the emotional response of some individuals to the residential school claims which opponents argue contributed to the rise in violence against churches.
Controversy over school claims
The allegations that sparked the rise in church attacks originated from discoveries at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, where radar technology detected soil disturbances initially believed to indicate unmarked graves.
However, no remains have been found, reports Lifesite News.
Residential schools, which operated from the late 19th century until 1996, were mandated by the Canadian federal government and managed by various Christian organisations including the Catholic Church.