EDMONTON — A statue outside a church in north-central Edmonton was vandalized Saturday evening.

The Pope John Paul II statue outside Holy Rosary Catholic Church at 11485 106 Street in Edmonton was covered in red paint and red handprints.

Red footprints could be seen around the statue and on the steps leading up to the main entrance of the church. Teddy bears and other stuffed animals were laid at the base of the statue.

The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said the incident occurred around 11:10 p.m. Saturday evening when a female was seen vandalizing the statue with paint.

EPS says the Hate Crimes and Violent Extremism Unit has been notified of the incident but the investigation will remain with the northwest division until the hate crimes unit had time to properly assess the incident.

Police said no further details were available from them as they continue their investigation.

‘WE ARE SADDENED BY THE VANDALISM’

In an interview with CTV News Edmonton, Andrzej Makarewich of the Canadian Polish Congress Alberta Society said the church was shocked when to see the St. John Paul II statue vandalized.

“We look at cameras, security cameras and we found that young woman came here at 11:10 p.m. and spent about 10 minutes to damage our monument,” Makarewich said.

He described the incident as a “stab” to the heart of the Polish community.

“Somebody who did this knows how to hurt our community because John Paul II is a saint,” he added.

Makarewich said that as the statue was being vandalized, security footage shows cars passing by the church.

“It was at least two cars who seen this incident and did nothing,” he shared. “This is not the Edmonton I know.”

CTV News Edmonton has not seen the security footage.

“We are saddened by the vandalism of the statue of Saint John Paul II at Holy Rosary Parish,” said Archbishop Richard Smith of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton said in a statement.

“At a time when our country is acutely aware of the need for reconciliation with the Indigenous Peoples of this land, it is helpful to recall the words with which Pope John Paul II, during his 1987 visit to Fort Simpson, strongly affirmed the inherent goodness of Indigenous culture and traditions, and expressed solidarity with the First Nations, Metis and Innu Peoples in defense of their rights: “my coming among you looks back to your past in order to proclaim your dignity and support your destiny.”

Smith added that he echoed those words.

“The Church extols the equal human dignity of all peoples and defends their right to uphold their own cultural character with its distinct traditions and customs,” the archbishop said.

“The parishioners of Holy Rosary parish, and the people of the Archdiocese of Edmonton, stand with the Indigenous Peoples in this moment of profound sorrow. With them, we lament the sad legacy of residential schools and look forward to the healing of our relationships.”

Pope John Paul II, born in Wadowice, Poland, was the first non-Italian pope since the 16^th century and the second longest servig head of the Catholic Church in modern history. He visited Canada three times.

Holy Rosary Church, a Polish and English parish, has priests that are members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate operated 48 schools, including the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia and the Marieval Indian Residential School in the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Other churches across Canada have been vandalized, including St. Paul Co-Cathedral in Saskatoon.

At least four churches in British Columbia on First Nations reserve land have been burned.

The incidents have occurred following announcements from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc that it had discovered the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

On Thursday, the Cowessess First Nation announced it had also located 751 unmarked graves near the location of a former residential school in Saskatchewan.

Authorities have not announced any official indication that the fires or acts of vandalism are connected to the discoveries at residential schools.

Marlene Poitras, Assembly of First Nations regional chief of Alberta, said in an interview that not just First Nations communities are hurt by the discoveries of unmarked graves and that there are more productive ways of moving forward.

“It’s really unfortunate,” Poitras said. “We don’t want to lose that (community) support by doing these sorts of things.

“Let’s work together in a good way,” she added. “I think that’s critical right now.”

If you are a former residential school student in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419

Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here. 

With files from CTV News Vancouver

EDMONTON — Wildfire burning west of Evansburg, Alta. held by firefighters, not expected to grow in size

Firefighters continue to extinguish hot spots of a wildfire west of Edmonton that forced 30 people from their homes in Yellowhead County earlier this week.

The wildfire located nine kilometres west of Evansburg, within the Edson Forest Area, was updated from out-of-control to being held just after 11 a.m. on Saturday.

As of Sunday, the fire continued to be held by crews.

Officials do not expect the wildfire to grow any larger in size unless conditions change.

“The fire danger in the Edson Forest Area, where this wildfire is located, is still very high due to the hot and dry conditions,” Josee St-Onge, provincial information officer with Alberta Wildfire, said in a statement.

“We urge Albertans to use extreme caution if they are spending time in Alberta’s forested areas.”

The cause of the fire continues to be investigated.

The fire was originally detected on Tuesday around 4 p.m. as a two-hectare fire that swelled to around 125 hectares in size four hours later.

According to Alberta Wildfire, there are currently nine other wildfires burning throughout the province – eight of which are under control.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Steven Dyer

EDMONTON — FC Edmonton donned orange Every Child Matters shirts during the pre-game ceremonies of their season opener Saturday to help raise awareness about the intergenerational impact of the residential school system in Canada.

All players on the team supported the Canadian Premier League’s initiative to acknowledge the legacy of residential schools and honour those affected by them.

The pre-game ceremony included a special land blessing and acknowledgement conducted by Elder Florence Paynter, Singer Ray Stevenson, and Niigaan Sinclair.

Eric Newendorp, president and general manager of FC Edmonton, told CTV News Edmonton that the team believes it has a role to play in reconciliation, just like anyone else.

“We fully support the message of raising that awareness for education and reconciliation,” he said. “We have to show that we understand that and respect that.

“We were proud to be part of the opening game and come out with those shirts on,” Newendorp added. “We need to use our platform for awareness of those important causes. We will always be a club that does that.”

CALGARY — Hundreds of Calgarians rallied in support of Alberta’s safe consumption sites (SCS) Saturday as a deadly stretch of fatal overdoses continues in the province.

About 200 people waved signs and listened to speeches at Central Memorial Park, which is across the road from the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre and the Safeworks SCS.

Trevor Fedan took the mic to speak about the impact Safeworks has had on his life.

“It’s not a want,” Fedan told CTV News. “As users, we need a place like that with supportive staff. A place where we’re not going to be judged. At Safeworks, if you buy into the program, the world is your oyster.”

Fedan was joined Saturday by other SCS clients, doctors and neighbourhood residents.

They all believe the recent provincial government decision to shutter the facility will take a toll on those who need it the most.

The site is a place where clients can use substances with clean equipment and nearby medical professionals.

In 2020, almost 54,000 people utilized Safeworks.

“I’m angry that our government is taking actions that are going in the wrong direction,” Lori Vrebosch said. “There’s no compassion, there’s no understanding. I’m angry (because) I support harm reduction and evidence-based strategies.”

Vrebosch lost her son to an accidental fatal overdose. She’s not alone.

Last year was Alberta’s deadliest year ever for overdoses.

1,144 opioid-related deaths were recorded.

A month after announcing the Safeworks closure and shuttering similar programs in other municipalities, the United Conservative government argues it is increasing treatment access.

The province has pledged to overhaul the way resources are made available to those in need, and says it is planning two facilities to replace Safeworks.

Details about those facilities have not been made available.

An interview request sent to the associate minister of mental health and addictions was not returned Saturday.

His office instead sent a statement citing community disruptions that led to the Safeworks closure and promising better treatment policy than the previous NDP government.

Press secretary Justin Marshall went on to say, “we understand that some wish to adopt a Vancouver-style social chaos approach, including flooding the streets with taxpayer-funded oxy-contin style narcotics, but we firmly reject that view.”

Protestor and physician Bonnie Larson says her group believes Jason Luan should resign.

“He has not even identified this complex problem correctly,” she said. “This is a death crisis where we’re losing 4 people a day in our province. This community clearly supports Safeworks in this location.”

The province closed the busiest supervised consumption site in Canada last year.

The government cited “financial irregularities” when it pulled funding from ARCHES in Lethbridge, but no charges were laid following an extensive financial investigation.

Ninety Calgary businesses banded together to show support for similar harm reduction earlier in the week.

EDMONTON — A historic heat wave is sweeping across western Canada, delivering scorching temperatures to Edmonton.

For the next week, almost every single day is expected to reach temperatures above 30 degrees in the Edmonton area.

“This is historically unprecedented,” said David Phillips, Environment Canada senior climatologist.

“That’s more days above 30 degrees than you had in the last five years,” he added.

Phillips said extreme heat is gripping western Canada from Alberta to British Columbia and all the way up to the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

A warm air mass is creating a lid effect across western Canada that is trapping dry heat with little potential for thunderstorms or precipitation.

“This thing is a big dome,” Phillips explained. “It just gets progressively warmer, the hot air can’t go anywhere. It’s stuck in this lid or cap that’s hanging over the region.

“There are no clouds in the sky, which means its wall-to-wall sunshine,” he added. “Which means temperatures can buildup even more.”

Environment Canada is calling this a prolonged and potentially dangerous heatwave, with temperatures in some areas to climb past 40 degrees by next week.

“It could very well be uncharted waters for Edmonton,” he said. “Four days in a row could be record-breaking.

“Here we are not even out of June yet and we are going to see records that we have never seen before.”

The City of Edmonton activated its extreme weather response plan on Friday to help keep people safe from Alberta’s heat.

Several city facilities with air conditioning have their doors open and cool bottled water available to give people opportunities to receive respite from the heat.

Local organizations like the Bissell Centre are also taking to the streets to deliver water bottles to those in need.

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning installers are slowly re-cooping losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic as temperatures soar.

For Jeff Daniels, owner of Daniels Heating and Refrigeration, the calls are coming in one after the next.

“We’re probably up double the volume from last year, especially with this upcoming week,” he said.

To prepare for the peak of the highest temperatures, some Edmontonians are getting creative.

Jessica Salmon-Potts is building a do-it-yourself air conditioner.

“You put icy things in it, frozen water bottles, fan on top and hopefully it will work,” she said. “We’re getting desperate.

“It’s cheaper than buying the real thing. So we are just going to try it.”

On Saturday, Edmonton was almost as hot as Juba, South Sudan.

The heat wave is predicted to end next week after Canada Day. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri and Ryan Harding