Fire Destroys Historic Montreal Church, Food Bank 

A fire engulfed the century-old Saint-Paul Catholic Church in Montreal in the early hours of Feb. 23, while also claiming a next-door food bank.

The fire broke out at the church, located at the corner of De l’Église Avenue and Laurendeau Street, around 1:30 a.m. A spokesperson for Montreal’s fire department, Émilie Barbeau-Charlebois, said 148 people were forced to leave the area due to the fire, including more than 70 seniors at a nearby seniors’ home.

The church was unoccupied when the fire broke out, and no injuries or deaths were reported. The fire department has not said if it knows what caused the fire.

The La Main Qui Partage food bank, which also provides resources for seniors and clothing, has been renting space in the church’s basement. The director of the food bank said its administration is now looking for a new place to restart operations, and is seeking donations of money and food.

The church, which was built between 1910 and 1911, has not been used in recent years, but has historical significance for the community.

Borough Mayor Véronique Fournier said in a statement on Facebook that while nobody was injured, the incident was “challenging for the residents of Côte-Saint-Paul.” She said the church had “special meaning” for community members who got married and celebrated important life moments in the building.

“I have shared with several of you this morning and we share the same thing: this church is at the heart of our memories, a significant place for our neighborhood, and its loss is a tremendous loss for our neighbourhood,” Fournier said.

Fournier added that the city will be waiting to hear from the Montreal Fire Service to “determine what action to take next.”

In October 2024, the historic 110-year-old church of Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Allégresses, located in Trois-Rivières, was also destroyed by a fire. The fire destroyed the roof and one of the two bell towers, but there were no injuries or deaths.

After the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation said in 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had uncovered the possible burial sites of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C., a wave of cross-country church arsons began. The presents of the burial sites hasn’t yet been confirmed with excavation.

Authorities haven’t confirmed if the latest church fire is related to the announcement.

According to an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons in September 2024, there were 90 arson attacks on places of worship in 2021 and 74 attacks in 2022, while from 2015 to 2020 there was an average of 43 police-reported arsons.