Authorities have launched an investigation into a fire at a northeast Calgary church that city police suspect was an act of arson.
“The Calgary Fire Department attended and extinguished the fire quickly, however the church sustained minor damage,” the city of Calgary newsroom said in a May 2 press release.
“We are now asking for the public’s help to locate the man believed to be responsible.”
Police believe a man entered the parking lot of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Roman Catholic Parish at around 8:15 p.m. on April 21. Police said it appears the man set fire to a nativity scene before leaving the scene, heading south into an alley between 16th Street N.E. and 16A Street N.E.
The suspect is approximately six feet tall, and between 20 and 40 years old with a “heavy build,” police said. He was last seen wearing a neon-yellow hoodie, black gloves, grey sweatpants, black running shoes, and a black backpack.
The Calgary police arson unit and hate crime prevention team are investigating the incident. They are asking residents located in Mayland Heights who may have footage of the aforementioned walkways and alleyways on April 21 between 6 and 9 p.m. to contact police.
Related Stories
Shibu Kallarakkal, pastor of the northeast Calgary parish, told the Calgary Harold he believes the arsonist’s actions were misplaced resentment, adding that he forgives whoever committed the crime. “We don’t have any hard feelings,” he said.
Church Arsons
A wave of cross-country church arsons began in 2021 after the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation claimed ground-penetrating radar had uncovered the possible burial sites of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C. The sites have not yet been excavated to confirm the presence of bodies.
More than 83 churches across Canada have been vandalized, burned down, or desecrated since then. In December 2023 alone, there were four church fires in Alberta suspected of being arson.
The RCMP announced last December it suspected arson was the motive behind the fires set within an hour of each other that destroyed two churches in a community northwest of Edmonton.
Just a week later, the RCMP announced it was searching for suspects following a fire at a church in the Northern Alberta community of Janvier. Bishop Gary Franken of the Diocese of St. Paul told The Epoch Times that the destroyed building was the community’s older church adjacent to a new building, St. Gabriel Catholic Church, which was not damaged by the fire.
English (US) · 
Turkish (TR) · 