‘Landmark’ church destroyed
Historic building used as museum
SASKATOON • Lynn Swystun was cutting the lawn at her home near Redberry Lake, Sask., when she saw the smoke.
She hopped into her car to check out the source.
“I didn’t get very far from home, then I realized it was our landmark church that was burning.”
Swystun said in an interview Thursday afternoon as she watched fire consume a nearby former Roman Catholic Church.
“It wasn’t a church that was used, but it was a landmark for us.”
Swystun’s husband and others from the rural area nearby brought water tankers and a sprayer, but opted not to bother since the fire had already reduced the church to ash.
Swystun and others watching the fire said they believed the Polish church had been there for at least 100 years.
RCMP arrived Thursday afternoon, Swystun said. Nobody on hand knew the church’s official name, but a plaque had been placed near it to explain its historical significance.
“It’s not going to be rebuilt,” an emotional Swystun said. “It’s really, really sad. In light of everything that’s going on in the country, it’s just a little bit suspicious.”
At least five churches in Canada, including some prominent Catholic Churches, have been burned in the wake of revelations that unmarked graves have been located on the grounds of former Indian residential schools that were run by churches.
There was no immediate indication about the cause of Thursday’s fire near Redberry Lake.
The Cowessess First Nation in southeast Saskatchewan revealed last month that it had located 751 unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school using ground-penetrating radar.
Swystun said it took about half an hour for the church to burn to the ground. As the first on the scene, Swystun said the fire definitely began in the church and not nearby.
She said the church, which is located on her mother-in-law’s property, was fixed in the last seven or eight years.
A group including her brother-in-law fixed the roof and painted the historic building.
“It was a museum,” she said. “The doors were open. You could walk in and out of it and have a look.”