19th-century church destroyed by fire
Sask. building was built by missionaries
CUMBERLAND HOUSE, Sask. — Fire has destroyed a parish hall that stood in a northern Saskatchewan community since the 1890s.
RCMP said the fire in Cumberland House broke out last Saturday. The hall was only partially engulfed with flames and smoke when firefighters arrived, but attempts to put it out proved unsuccessful.
Les Carriere, who lives in Cumberland House, said the hall was the original Roman Catholic church in the community built by Oblate missionaries.
It was later replaced by a new, larger church in 1954, and the old building was then used for socials, banquets and other community activities.
Police said the investigation into the cause of the fire was continuing.
“It was a standing church. It had a steeple and everything. The only thing was that it was smaller, but it used to fit a lot of people,” Carriere said. “The last 10 years, they kind of discontinued the use of it.”
Veronica Favel, who also lives in Cumberland House and is a coordinator with St. Joseph’s parish, said it was sad to watch the building burn.
The flames spread slower than people expected, she said, suggesting that might be because it was so solidly built.
“A number of people from our community were standing outside, and everybody had a story,” Favel said.
Cumberland House, on the lower Saskatchewan River, was the site of the first western inland post of the Hudson Bay Company in 1774.
Carriere said his own family settled in Cumberland House because of the fur trade. His parents were married in the hall in 1936, when it was still a church.
The first priest was Ovide Charlebois, who served there from 1892 until 1908. Charlebois became the first bishop of the Keewatin-Le Pas diocese, which covers 430,000 square kilometres across northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba and a small corner of northwest Ontario.
Cumberland House remained a fly-in community until the 1960s. Carriere said the priest and bishop would come in from The Pas, Man.
“Correspondence, two-way radio, everything was to The Pas, Manitoba. That’s how the priest communicated to his superiors, especially the bishop,” Carriere said.
Police said no one was hurt in the fire and no other buildings were damaged.