A video shared on social media of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to show him saying burning down churches is "fully understandable." The video is edited and misleading. Trudeau condemned church burnings in his remarks, which were made in July 2021, and he said the anger people feel against the federal government and institutions like the Catholic Church is fully understandable because of their historical involvement in the residential school system.
An formerly known as Twitter, shared a video of Trudeau saying that "acts of vandalism and arson are being seen across the country, including against Catholic churches. One of my reflections is I understand the anger that's out there. Against institutions like the Catholic Church. It is real and it is fully understandable."
The video was attached with a quote attributed to Trudeau, saying, "Burning down a Catholic church is fully understandable."
The post had 41,000 likes, 12,000 reposts and 1.7 million views at the time of publication.
Rating: Misleading
The video of Trudeau's remarks was doctored to make him appear supportive of targeting Catholic churches by removing the parts of his speech where he condemned burning churches. The quote that was shared with the video is completely made up as Trudeau didn't say "Burning down a Catholic church is fully understandable."
Trudeau was responding to a question from a reporter during a press conference on July 2, 2021 about funding to help protect churches from vandalism, and his reaction to churches being targeted for the Catholic Church's historic role in the residential school system.
The between the reporter and Trudeau is posted on CTV's YouTube page and titled: "'Unacceptable and wrong': PM Trudeau condemns church vandalism."
Trudeau answered that his government has put on in place a program that partners with places of worship to install cameras and security systems to keep those institutions safe from the rise of intolerance and racism and hatred.
Trudeau went on to condemn the targeting of churches about into the video.
"It is unacceptable and wrong that acts of vandalism and arson are being seen across the country, including against Catholic churches," he said.
"One of my reflections is I understand the anger that's out there against the federal government, against institutions like the Catholic Church. It is real and it is fully understandable, given the shameful history that we are all becoming more and more aware of and engaging ourselves to do better as Canadians."
Trudeau continued to specifically condemn burning down churches.
"I can't help but think that burning down churches is actually depriving people who are in need of grieving and healing and mourning from places where they can actually grieve and reflect and look for support," he said.
"We shouldn't be lashing out at buildings that can provide solace to some of our fellow citizens."
The X user who posted the claim to the original on Oct. 6 admitting that "The clip has been edited and trimmed," and acknowledging that Trudeau denounced the burning of churches in his full remarks.
°µÍø½ûÇø has confirmed the burning church in the video showed the one in Trois-Rivières by examining landmarks appearing in the video and comparing it with images from .
The building was being at the time of the fire and had not been used as a church since .
There were no injuries reported and the cause of the fire is , property owner Georges Mouradian told Radio-Canada.
Sources
Claim can be can be found on X (, ), and the reply from Oct. 6 ()
()
()
(, )
()
()
()
About Canadian Press fact checks
You can find out more about °µÍø½ûÇø here and about Canadian Press Fact Checks here. To reach our fact-checking team with any tips, corrections or comments, please email us at cpfactcheck@thecanadianpress.com.
