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Man charged in connection with church fire
More than a month after the All Saints Orthodox Church in Meadow Lake went up in flames, a suspect has been charged in connection with the blaze. On Oct. 1 around 2 a.m., Meadow Lake RCMP received a report of a fire at All Saints Orthodox Church on 2nd Street East in Meadow Lake. Police officers attended the scene, along with members of the Meadow Lake Fire Department and local EMS workers.
No one was injured as a result of the fire, but, as noted, the church itself – a structure that proudly stood as part of the community for close to 70 years – was destroyed. Initial police investigation suggested the fire may be suspicious in nature. Meadow Lake RCMP continued to investigate, with the assistance of Saskatchewan RCMP’s North Battleford Serious Crimes Unit and fire investigators with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. On Nov. 2, police arrested and charged 28-year-old Gavin Burnouf of Meadow Lake with one count of arson. Burnouf made his first appearcance in Meadow Lake provincial court Nov. 5. According to the RCMP, investigation to date does not indicate the arson was motivated by any ideological reason.
“We are thankful for the effort of our local authorities in this investigation as we patiently await the completion of the legal process,” remarked Kent Vidal on behalf of his fellow All Saints Orthodox Church parishioners. “We are grateful for the outpouring of support from our faith and broader community. We have a space to continue to gather and are able to make progress through the insurance claim process knowing we are supported and cared for by so many.” Since the fire, the All Saints congregation has been meeting at the Catholic Church Hall in Meadow Lake for its regular services. Meanwhile, as was reported in the Oct. 29 edition of Northern Pride, a community prayer gathering was held at the site of the former church, an event that attracted more than 100 people who came together to pray, sing and share memories of the church building. “Ninety per cent of the labour that went into building the church – as well as the vast majority of everything in this church – was donated,” church president and longtime caretaker Paul Szpakowski during the community prayer gathering. “Nobody had money back then, so everybody put in their labour and their skills to put this church together.”
According to information provided by the Archdiocese of Canada, the All Saints Orthodox Church building was constructed in 1957 with the parish officially founding its community in 1958. Petro Krasicki, a self-taught master carpenter who immigrated from Ukraine, served as the head carpenter alongside a local crew. To build the structure, Krasicki and his team utilized blueprints borrowed from an Orthodox church in North Battleford, scaling down the dimensions to fit the Meadow Lake site. Designing and constructing the traditional Eastern European banyas (onion domes) required highly specialized skills. A dedicated craftsman was brought in from Winnipeg specifically to build the domes and mount them to the roof. Winnipeg was also the sourcing origin for the interior iconography that decorated the church.
“What always amazed me were the elliptical domes on top,” Szpakowski said. “How anybody could build those without any rivets or anything – just 2x2s and aluminum still amazes me. Even those crosses were 10 feet high and weighed about 100 pounds.” Szpakowski went on to say most of the people who built the church are now long gone. “But, again, the sad part about this for me is most of this stuff (the items and artifacts within there church) was donated from other churches,” he said. We need to figure out what the cost of things are, but we don’t even know where a lot of it came from… Hopefully we have the strength and the courage, and I believe we do, to rebuild and go on having an All Saints Orthodox Church welcome to all people.”