Calgary police are investigating overnight vandalism at 10 churches across the city, but Global News has learned another church was also sprayed painted.
On Thursday morning, red handprints were found stamped across the front of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic church at 704 6 St. N.E.
The number 751 was spray-painted across the main sign – the same number as that of unmarked graves discovered at the site of a former residential school in Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan June 25.
Red paint was splattered across the front doors and a statue of Jesus at Sacred Heart Catholic church on 14 St. S.W.
“There’s a lot of wounded people in the world and we pray for them,” said parishioner Shelagh Toole.
In the southeast, vandals targeted Saint Bonaventure Catholic church at 1600 Acadia Drive, spray painting “We were children” and “Our lives matter” across the exterior.
Alberta premier Jason Kenney calls the attacks on churches “appalling”
The vandalism comes just days after a fire was deliberately set at the Siksika First Nation Catholic church.
The Siksika Fire Department managed to extinguish the blaze before it caused significant damage and nobody was hurt. RCMP said a preliminary investigation indicates that one or more people deliberately started the fire.
On Tuesday, an attempt was also made to start a fire inside the Siksika Anglican church but was unsuccessful.
Numerous churches have caught fire and burned across the country over the course of the last two weeks.
On Wednesday, the Lower Kootenay Band said ground-penetrating radar has revealed the human remains of 182 people in unmarked graves at the site of the old St. Eugene’s Mission Residential School in Cranbrook, B.C.