(LifeSiteNews) –– The man arrested this week by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for allegedly engaging in the “reckless” act of starting fires on the property of a decades-old Catholic church in a small British Columbia city is now out on bail.
According to an RCMP press release, the incident occurred on Monday, August 19, in the town of Vernon, British Columbia. Around 8 p.m., RCMP were notified by the concerned public that a man was setting “fires on a property.” Reports indicate the property in question is that of St. James Catholic Church.
Officers responded to the call and were able to locate and arrest Dillon Alexander Leon, a 33-year-old male. The RCMP reported that there has been no “significant” property damage reported.
Constable Chris Terleski, Media Relations Officer for the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP, remarked that it is “really concerning to see this happening.”
“It’s reckless. These fires have potential to suddenly get out of control and can have disastrous consequences. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case thanks to the quick action of the witnesses who spotted what was happening and immediately reported it,” he added.
After a court appearance, Leon was granted bail and is facing charges of one count each of mischief over $5,000 as well as possession of incendiary material.
While the motive of the alleged act in Vernon is not known, since the spring of 2021, more than 100 churches, most of them Catholic, have been burned or vandalized across Canada. The attacks on churches came shortly after the unconfirmed discovery of “unmarked graves” at now-closed residential schools once run by the Church in parts of the country.
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 of the schools.
Despite the church burnings, the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done nothing substantial to bring those responsible to justice or to stem the root cause of the burnings.
In June, however, the Conservative Party of Canada introduced a bill which would make it a specific criminal offense to intentionally set fire to a church or start a wildfire.