Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Cherry Grove, AB) destroyed; arson investigation

Early on the morning of 28 April 2023, fire destroyed The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building in Cherry Grove, a hamlet roughly 10 kilometres east of Cold Lake in northeastern Alberta. Firefighters from Cold Lake, Bonnyville, La Corey and Iron River responded, but the structure was found fully engulfed and was declared a total loss. While responding, crews also discovered a second fire at the Cherry Grove Canada Post office, which was heavily damaged. Based on its preliminary investigation, Cold Lake RCMP classified the church blaze as suspicious and appealed for information and any video surveillance from the early-morning hours of 28 April.

Investigators later determined the church and post office fires had been intentionally set. On 30 April, further vehicle and structure fires, including two homes, were reported in Cherry Grove and also deemed arson. That day Cold Lake RCMP arrested John Cook, a 29-year-old Cherry Grove resident, in connection with the fires. He was charged with 10 counts of arson, linked both to the April 2023 fires and to a series of wildfires set in the area between August and September 2022. The investigation involved Cold Lake RCMP, the RCMP serious crimes branch, the forestry crimes unit and Alberta Forestry and Parks investigators. Cook was remanded into custody, with a court appearance scheduled for 10 May 2023.

This is a domestic Canadian criminal matter, not an instance of foreign-linked sabotage or hybrid warfare. RCMP investigated the destruction of the Latter-day Saints chapel as a suspicious fire and subsequently as arson, part of a wider local series of deliberately set fires in and around the hamlet of Cherry Grove. A single local resident was arrested and charged with multiple counts of arson within days, and reporting points to a localized pattern of fire-setting rather than any organized, ideological or state-directed campaign. No foreign nexus or hybrid-threat dimension is indicated by available reporting.