
Arson suspected in fire that destroyed historic Toronto church
Toronto police and Ontario’s fire marshal are treating the June 2024 fire that destroyed the historic St. Anne’s Anglican Church as suspected arson.
Matthew Puddister is an editor and staff writer for the Anglican Journal. Most recently, Puddister worked as corporate communicator for the Anglican Church of Canada, a position he has held since Dec. 1, 2014. He previously served as a city reporter for the Prince Albert Daily Herald. A former resident of Kingston, Ont., Puddister has a bachelor's degree in English literature from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Western Ontario.

Toronto police and Ontario’s fire marshal are treating the June 2024 fire that destroyed the historic St. Anne’s Anglican Church as suspected arson.

Archdeacon Travis Enright was raised Roman Catholic, then Anglican, and attended an Anglican seminary. But he says he feels most connected to Jesus in the sweat lodge—a traditional site of spiritual ceremonies, healing and prayer for many Indigenous peoples.

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Winnipeg’s 141-year-old Holy Trinity Anglican Church, recognized by the federal government as a national historic site, is in the final stages of a heritage rehabilitation study carried out by two local firms to look at potential repairs estimated to cost $7 million.

St. Paul’s Bloor Street Anglican Church in Toronto approved, then revoked a booking by NDP leadership candidate Yves Engler for a room to host a political rally—after what both Engler and the leader of a Zionist group said was a pressure campaign by pro-Israel activists to cancel the event.

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St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto, which featured unique Byzantine Revival architecture and irreplaceable artwork by members of the Group of Seven before its destruction by fire on June 9, 2024, will be rebuilt as a more modest structure within the remains of the old church building, its interim priest-in-charge says—fulfilling purposes currently split between two separate buildings, the former rectory and the parish hall.

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