Canadian Orthodox church with priceless artwork destroyed by fire

On the evening of September 30, All Saints Orthodox Church in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, only a stone’s throw from the Flying Dust First Nation, was left in ruins, leaving the community and parishioners devastated.

“It is with tremendous sorrow that we inform you all that our beloved All Saints parish burned in a fire last night. No one was hurt, for which we are immensely thankful,” the Church noted in a Facebook post.

“While our sure hope in Christ is not confined to any structure, we still mourn the loss of our beautiful hall, its many icons, and the years of care that were lovingly poured into the sacred space.”

The church said that no services are offered for now and that more information will become available “soon.”

“Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy,” the church wrote.

Crews from the Meadow Lake fire department did what they could to battle the blaze at the church, which was home to icons, stained glass, and artwork.

As of now, local officials have not given a reason for the cause of the blaze, but the timing of the fire, which occurred on Canada’s “truth and reconciliation” day, raises alarm bells. 

The Meadow Lake church fire is just the latest in what appear to be attacks on Christian places of worship in Canada. In August, a historic century-old Catholic church in New Brunswick, burned to the ground in an incident that authorities are saying could be an act of arson.

The federal holiday “truth and reconciliation” day, held September 30, was created by the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to bring attention to the legacy of indigenous residential schools.

In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some Canadian residential schools. The reality is that, after four years, there have been no mass graves discovered at residential schools.

However, as the claims went unfounded, over 130 churches, most of them Catholic and many of them on indigenous lands that serve the local population, have been burned to the ground, vandalized, or defiled in Canada since the spring of 2021.

In 2024, retired Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht said that Canadians are being “deliberately deceived by their own government” after blasting the former Trudeau government for “actively pursuing” a policy that blames the Catholic Church for the unfounded “deaths and secret burials” of indigenous children.

In November 2025, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Kelly Block introduced Private Members Bill C-255 that would increase penalties for criminals who are convicted of mischief directed at places of worship in Canada. This bill is stalled in Canada’s House of Commons.