On May 23rd, 2018, the historic Church of the Infant Jesus burned down in Long Lake First Nation, reports Anishinabek News.
It was a sad day for community of Long Lake, to find out that their church had been burned down. The first church had been built in 1885 according to TBnewswatch.com, but was also burned down in 1948. The new church, the Church of the Infant Jesus was built the following year and was the church of the communities of Longlac and the First Nation area.
The Church of the Infant Jesus was condemned in 1997. And the community had been unable to raise enough funding to provide the church with updates and fixes for it to run properly.
To Anishinabek News, Chief Veronica Waboose, along with two councillors, Marlow Wesley and Arthur Sr. Shebagabow share fond stories of growing up in the church, and being congregants. They expressed their sadness and sorrows over the loss of their church and what it means for the community.
Waboose states that the community planned for the church site to have a monument built there.