St. Columba Anglican Church (Tofino, BC) damaged by suspicious fire

Just after 4 a.m. on Friday 02 July 2021, fire broke out at St. Columba Anglican Church on Second Street in Tofino, a coastal village on Vancouver Island on the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. The Tofino Volunteer Fire Department responded quickly and contained the blaze. Damage was limited: the fire burned through part of an exterior wall, but firefighters prevented major structural harm. No one was injured. St. Columba has served the community for more than a century.

The RCMP treated the fire as suspicious and opened an investigation. Police sergeant Chris Manseau said investigators were aware of the recent church fires occurring around British Columbia and would share information to determine whether the cases were linked, but added that at that time there was nothing indicating a connection. Arson was not officially confirmed. Tofino mayor Dan Law, a member of the congregation, said he would be extremely disappointed if the fire turned out to be intentional.

The fire fell within a summer 2021 wave of fires and vandalism at churches across Canada, many on or near Indigenous land, that followed announcements of suspected unmarked graves at former Indian residential school sites, beginning near Kamloops, British Columbia, in May 2021. The same night, a fire destroyed St. Paul's Anglican Church at Gitwangak (New Hazelton). Indigenous leaders, including members of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, condemned violence and said burning churches was not the answer.

This was a domestic Canadian incident, not foreign state sabotage, hybrid warfare, or terrorism, and should not be conflated with such activity. The RCMP treated the St. Columba fire as suspicious, but on the available reporting no official cause was confirmed, no suspect was identified, and no charges were laid. The timing places it within the broader 2021 surge of fires at Canadian churches linked to anger over residential schools, yet investigators explicitly stopped short of connecting it to that pattern. Motive is therefore unestablished and should not be assumed.