The fire that destroyed a historic Toronto church last year and more than a dozen murals by the Group of Seven is now being treated as suspected arson, Toronto police said Monday .

The 117-year-old St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Little Portugal burned in June 2024, leaving only the church’s brick walls and the charred skeleton of its domed roof behind. Days after the fire, Toronto police said the fire was not being investigated as arson, but in a meeting after St. Anne’s worship service on Sunday, Toronto detective Patrick Stewart informed the congregation of the change.

“There were a lot of tears, a lot of shock, a lot of anxiety and anger,” Hannah Johnston, priest-in-charge at St. Anne’s, told the Star. “For many people, it felt like a reopening of the wound.”

The church, located

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