Arson attacks on Canadian churches have more than doubled since 2021, a new study finds, attributing the surge largely to public reaction over potential unmarked graves at former residential schools rather than anti-religious hostility.
The 46-page report, “Scorched Earth,” by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, is the first empirical examination of a wave of fires that have damaged or destroyed scores of houses of worship across Canada.
Drawing on national fire statistics, police records and media reports, the authors count a sharp break from pre-2021 levels and note that the frequency “has not significantly declined since then.”
Yet investigators have laid charges in fewer than 4% of the church arsons recorded between 2021 and 2023, leaving the perpetrators and their motives unknown in more than 96% of cases.
Researchers tested two explanations for the rise.
One proposes that the burnings reflect a larger spike in anti-Christian or anti-religious sentiment. The other links them to a series of announcements, beginning in May 2021, about the claims of unmarked burials at former residential schools — a network of boarding institutions for indigenous children once run largely by the Catholic Church.
“Statistical analysis indicates that the increase in arson is not religiously motivated,” the report states, concluding that the pattern “is likely a response” to the burial claims.
Because arsonists rarely claim responsibility, the study cautions against easy assumptions about coordination or ideology.
The authors write that law enforcement's “inability to effectively investigate and prosecute arsonists, coupled with society’s general apathy towards condemning their actions, poses a significant threat to Indigenous reconciliation efforts in Canada.”
Public confidence, they warn, may erode if attacks tied — rightly or wrongly — to residential-school grievances appear to go unaddressed.
Although initial allegations, such as the report of 751 unmarked graves near a former residential school in Saskatchewan, were later debunked after no graves were excavated, the claims triggered anti-Christian sentiment that fueled the destruction of nearly 100 churches by the end of 2023.
Investigations confirmed at the time that 24 of the 33 church fires were cases of arson, while 60 other churches were vandalized across vast regions, often accompanied by anti-Catholic graffiti and targeted destruction of religious symbols.
Public figures and some media outlets were accused of encouraging or downplaying the attacks, with political consultants, civil liberties advocates and even media houses initially amplifying the unverified claims before issuing corrections.
Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded a formal apology from the Catholic Church, which Pope Francis delivered during a 2022 visit to Canada. Despite the retractions and clarifications that no such mass graves of Indigenous children existed, the damage had already been done, leaving deep scars on communities and religious institutions across the country.
The paper argues that Canada already possesses tools to curb the fires but lacks an organized strategy.
It points to a U.S. campaign in the 1990s that reduced a streak of church burnings through a blend of federal, state and local measures. A comparable Canadian response, the authors suggest, should start with a dedicated investigative unit that combines police and fire services at the national or regional level and focuses solely on arsons at religious sites.
Strengthening indigenous emergency services forms the second plank of the proposed plan.
Many churches harmed by the recent burnings sit on or near First Nations land, where local departments often operate with limited staffing, equipment and jurisdictional clarity. Integrating those departments fully into any new investigative unit, the study says, would speed responses, tighten evidence collection and ensure indigenous leadership in tackling crimes that threaten reconciliation.
A third recommendation addresses data. Canada’s long-running effort to build a unified fire-statistics system remains incomplete, and on-reserve reporting, in particular, is patchy.
