People look on as Saint-Simon Catholic Church in Saint-Simon, N.B., is engulfed in flames on Aug. 24, 2026. The Canadian Press/Handout- Yvonne Chiasson
A New Brunswick senior has been charged with arson in connection with an enormous blaze earlier this week that resulted in the destruction of a historic church on the province’s Acadian Peninsula.
Emergency services responded to a report of a religious building on fire during the early morning hours of Aug. 24 in the small seaside community of Saint-Simon, N.B., the RCMP said in a press release.
The Caraquet, Bertrand, and Shippagan fire departments responded to the call along with the Caraquet RCMP.
Some pictures posted to Facebook show the 108-year-old Saint-Simon Catholic Church engulfed in flames against a still dark sky. Photos of the wooden structure taken later in the morning show most of the building reduced to ash, including the steeple.
“The building was unoccupied at the time of the fire, and the building is considered a total loss,” police said.
The now-destroyed facility was thought to be the largest wooden church left in New Brunswick.
A provincial fire marshal investigation found the fire was set intentionally and officers identified a person of interest soon after, the RCMP said.
Gilles Mallet, 68, was arrested and appeared in Bathurst Provincial Court on arson charges in connection with the investigation. He was remanded into custody and is scheduled to reappear in court on Aug. 28 for a bail hearing.
Local Mayor Bernard Thériault described the fire as a “tragedy” in a Facebook post. A subsequent post written in French said the fire was the worst disaster in the history of the small community.
Police have not released any details about a potential motive, but said the incident remains under investigation.
Anyone with information that could help the RCMP investigation is asked to contact the Caraquet detachment.
The fire is the latest in a series of church burnings in recent years.
A series of church burnings began after the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation of Kamloops said in 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had identified possible unmarked graves of children at a former residential school site. So far, no excavations have taken place to confirm the claim.
It is not clear whether this latest incident is related to those fires.
