National Post

Arson to be probed as possible hate crime

Ukrainian pastor’s home set on fire

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VICTORIA • The Ukrainian Canadian Congress and its British Columbia council are calling on police in Victoria to investigat­e an arson fire as a hate crime.

The congress says in a statement that someone poured gasoline through the mail slot and set fire to the family home of the pastor of the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Victoria police have said five people were in the home early Wednesday when the fire broke out and all made it out alive, although one child was injured and a woman needed to be rescued from a window ledge by fire crews.

Victoria police Const. Cam Macintyre says police have received new video evidence from the area and are reviewing it to try to discover why someone would light a fire in the home located near the church.

Macintyre says police will investigat­e the possibilit­y the arson was hate-motivated, but have not yet establishe­d a motive.

WHETHER IT WAS DIRECTED AT PEOPLE’S FAITH ... WE DON’T KNOW.

The council says the fire was an attack on Father Yuriy Vyshnevsky­y, his wife and their three daughters, and it calls on police to thoroughly investigat­e the crime against innocent people.

“Given that Father Vyshnevsky­y is a dedicated community leader, who through his work is strongly supporting the Ukrainian people and their defence of their homeland from Russia’s genocidal war, we call on local authoritie­s to investigat­e this attack as a hate crime.”

Premier John Horgan offered his sympathies to Vyshnevsky­y and his family.

“We don’t know yet, as the investigat­ion unfolds, whether it was directed at people’s faith, people’s ethnicity, we don’t know,” he said. “But, what we do know is that all British Columbians stand with the Vyshnevsky­y family today, in unison, saying with one voice, we’re with you and we’re here to help.”

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