Article By Frank Bergman
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has triggered a firestorm after appearing in a social media video to promote his girlfriend Katy Perry’s new song about burning churches down.
The video promotes the release of Perry’s new church-themed song, “Watch It Burn.”
The promo shows Perry and several others jumping up and down as Trudeau joins them in the background.
However, the title of the song and religious imagery featured in the official music video quickly sparked speculation about Canada’s devastating wave of church fires.
Most of those fires occurred while Trudeau was leading the country.
Perry’s music video features the pop star sitting inside a church as she sings about lighting a match and watching something burn.
“Tonight’s the night I light a match / Throw it hard behind my back / Gonna try to forgive and forget / Light a cigarette and watch it burn,” Perry sings.
Trudeau’s appearance in the promotional footage immediately drew attention due to the church backdrop and Canada’s unresolved epidemic of attacks against religious institutions.
Churches Devastated Following Residential School Claims
The wave of destruction began after corporate media outlets promoted inflammatory claims in 2021 and 2022 that hundreds of children had been buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who operated Canadian residential schools.
Four years later, no mass graves have been discovered at residential schools.
Nevertheless, more than 120 churches have been burned, vandalized, or defiled across Canada since spring 2021.
Most of the targeted buildings were Catholic churches, while many were located on indigenous lands and served their surrounding communities.
Synagogues have also faced a rise in attacks, particularly amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Despite the scale of the destruction, the overwhelming majority of the Canadian church arsons remain unsolved.
Study Examines Surge in Religious Arson
A 2025 study titled “Scorched Earth: A Quantitative Analysis of Arson Against Canadian Religious Institutions and Its Threat to Reconciliation” investigated the sharp increase in fires targeting churches.
Researchers identified two possible broad explanations for the surge.
The first involved announcements beginning in May 2021 about potential unmarked burials at former residential schools.
Those institutions were boarding schools established by the Canadian government for indigenous children and were largely administered by Christian organizations for more than a century.
The second possible motivation identified by researchers was growing anti-Christian or broader anti-religious sentiment in liberal Canada.
However, no individual or organization had claimed responsibility for an organized arson campaign at the time the report was written.
Fewer than 4 percent of the arson cases recorded between 2021 and 2023 resulted in charges.
As a result, the identities and motivations of those responsible for more than 96 percent of the attacks remain unknown.
Researchers also identified serious problems facing law enforcement, including weaknesses in investigations, prosecutions, national coordination, and data collection.
The study recommended stronger investigative cooperation, expanded indigenous police and fire services, and the creation of a comprehensive national database tracking fire incidents.
Conservative Lawmaker Pushes Tougher Penalties
In November 2025, Conservative MP Kelly Block introduced Private Member’s Bill C-255.
The legislation would increase penalties for criminals convicted of mischief targeting churches.
Against that backdrop, Trudeau’s presence in a celebratory promotional video for a song called “Watch It Burn,” featuring a church and lyrics about lighting a match, was bound to provoke outrage.
With more than 120 religious institutions attacked and over 96 percent of the arson cases still unresolved, the imagery has struck a nerve among Canadians still waiting for answers.
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