‘Dark Days for Religious Liberty’: Journalist Likens Canadian Church Arsons to ‘Kristallnacht’

As the fires continue to burn in Canada, one right-leaning journalist is likening the rash of church arsons to the early signs of the systematic persecution of Jewish people in the lead up to Nazi Germany.

Ezra Levant, founder of the right-leaning outlet Rebel News, shared his concerns Wednesday, during an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

“I’m reluctant to use the word ‘Kristallnacht,’ because we’re not there yet,” he said. “That was the ‘Night of the Broken Glass’ in pre-Holocaust Germany, where they smashed and burned and killed Jewish synagogues. It was a precursor to the Holocaust.”

“Obviously,” Levant continued, “we are not that far gone yet. But what do you call it when literally dozens of churches are being systemically vandalized, torched?

The conservative commentator’s remarks come as several churches — mostly belonging to Catholic or Anglican denominations — have been burned to the ground amid the discovery of unmarked graves at erstwhile schools for indigenous children.

Roughly 150,000 indigenous Canadians were forced to attend the “Indian residential school system,” which was largely operated by the Catholic Church, over a period of 120 years. In 2015, a government commission concluded the system was guilty of a so-called “cultural genocide” against indigenous people groups.

Since May, more than 1,100 unmarked graves of children have been discovered on the former grounds of those long-shuttered schools in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a soft condemnation of the attacks in late June, saying “destroying places of worship” is “not the way to go.”

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