Canada’s churches are burning down – and the Left doesn’t want to ask why

A spate of fires has drawn condemnation from the Right. But many progressives have remained silent

Canada has long had a reputation as a safe, welcoming and peaceful country, but in recent years that perception has been shattered. My country has struggled with the rise of aggressive and violent far-Left social movements, as well as a significant uptick in racist and anti-Semitic behavior after Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7 2023. Now, Canada’s churches are burning.
Over a hundred of them have been vandalised, burned down or desecrated in the last few years, according to one analysis, with more than 20 confirmed to be arsons. And while many on the Right have spoken out against this horrific wave of violence, there’s been a disturbing code of silence on the Left.
To understand why, it’s necessary to revisit a controversial period in Canadian history.   News broke in May 2021 that the remains of 215 children had apparently been found at a former Indian Residential School site in Kamloops, British Columbia, through the use of ground-penetrating radar. It ignited a dramatic chain of events in which more than 2,000 unmarked graves were supposedly discovered at other former residential schools between 2021 and 2022. A media fervor began, including a New York Times expose and various BBC reports. There was even an apology from Pope Francis in July 2022 on behalf of Catholic priests involved in the old residential school system.
Others, however, have pushed back against this narrative. Three years later, no remains have been exhumed and identified, leading to justified scepticism about the initial claims. “Canada is already very far down the path not just of accepting, but of legally entrenching, a narrative for which no serious evidence has been proffered,” C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan wrote in Grave Error: How The Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools).”All the major elements of the story are either false or highly exaggerated,” the authors argue.
Alas, some Canadians decided to play judge, jury and executioner without a fair trial and considering all the evidence. Blame has largely been placed at the feet of the Catholic Church – and houses of worship have been targeted.
Another may now need to be added to the list: Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Allégresses, located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. An October 3 fire “spread rapidly,” according to the Western Standard, “which caused extensive damage to the Catholic church built in 1914.” The Epoch Times noted the blazing inferno “resulted in the roof completely collapsing, and one of the two bell towers being destroyed.” At the time of writing, the cause of the fire had not yet been established.
Many Canadian conservatives have condemned attacks on Christian places of worship. They are warning against the implications for religious freedom, and the right of individuals and groups to gather together to worship in a safe, secure environment. This is what most rational-thinking Canadians from all walks of life would have said in the past, too.The same cannot be said for Canadian progressives. While some have spoken out, many others have remained silent. Why would this group, who would surely and understandably have been outraged if this were happening to a religious minority, turn a blind eye to hateful attacks against Christians?
Some progressives probably don’t want to confront this situation for personal or political reasons. Others may not care enough to get involved.
It is also becoming disturbingly clear that, for some on the Left, hatred of Christianity is growing stronger. They reject traditional religious beliefs and institutions associated with Christianity. They deplore what they perceive as authoritarian leadership among Catholic priests related to the tragic history of residential schools. Hence, they may believe that burning down churches fulfils some kind of deluded tit-for-tat scenario.  
But it’s not acceptable for progressives to stay silent while churches are being burned to the ground. They need to condemn these attacks and whoever is behind them. They also need to defend the rights of all religious faiths, including Christianity, as their progressive forefathers would have surely done.
Michael Taube, a columnist for the National Post, Troy Media and Loonie Politics, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper