Church fire deemed suspicious, residents reflect on landmark’s legacy

Following initial investigation of the fire that burned down the old Polish church near Redberry Lake, Blaine Lake RCMP have determined that it was suspicious in nature.

When RCMP were initially called to the fire at the church on Petrofka Road on July 8, it’s believed the blaze had been going for some time and it was already destroyed by the time officers arrived. They confirmed it was no longer in use in its original capacity and no one was injured in the incident.

In concert with Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency fire investigators, Blaine Lake RCMP are still investigating the cause of the fire. Police are urging anyone with information about this fire to call the detachment at 306-497-3600, or to call Crime Stoppers.

Community members reflect on church’s legacy

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(submitted/Ruth Bitner)

The site of the historic building burning to the ground Thursday was a hard one for residents in the area. Community member Rodney Swystun said the church was important for those old enough to remember going to services on Sunday, but for both them and future generations, it had become more than that.

“The building was remembered as both a place of worship and a landmark,” he said. “You go to the Polish church and you then you’d turn right or left to get to where you needed to go.”

Around eight years ago, Swystun was heavily involved in an effort to save the building when the Roman Catholic Dioceses had decided to remove the structure for liability reasons.

After negotiating, the building, which stands on the corner of Swystun’s mother’s land, remained in the community. He said they primarily wanted to restore it for the memory for those who created not only the church, but other buildings in the surrounding community around a century ago.

“It’s a historic landmark and the pioneers of the area that were mostly of Polish descent, built the church around 100 years ago as one of the first things they built,” he said. “It would’ve been a real embarrassment for my generation to let it go.”

Neighbours rallied together to restore the building, rebuild its roof and make sure it was sound enough to allow passersby’s to walk inside. Swystun said the church was there for everyone to enjoy.

“The door was open, anyone could walk in,” he said. “There was a lot of Roman Catholic memorabilia in it and we just left it for everyone to see, we were proud it was there.”

(submitted/Ruth Bitner)

When they found out it was on fire Thursday, Swystun said he didn’t expect so much emotion to be tied into a structure, especially when seeing his mother break down crying at the sight.

“A woman who is still very physically capable coming out and weeping as if it was a family member,” he said. “Sort of a feeling of emptiness right now.”

Swystun said they may eventually build some sort of monument type structure to commemorate that the church was there. For now, any future plans with the building aren’t important.

“Right now we’re just cleaning the site up,” he said. “Unbelievably, the chimney is still standing. So, if we see that it’s sound enough structurally, then we’ll leave that up.”

And Swystun stressed that regardless of the RCMP investigation and other stories of churches being burned down in Canada, they aren’t interested speculating or in pointing fingers at anyone. Rather, they’d like to focus on the memories associated with a building that meant so much to a community.

“It’s been through four generations and is not known as a Catholic church, but as the Polish church.”

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