Is the suspect in a Canadian church fire in New Brunswick in August 2026 a Palestinian Muslim migrant? No, that's not true: As of Aug. 31, 2026, there was no evidence that Gilles Mallet is Palestinian, Muslim, or a migrant. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said its investigation has found no evidence that the fire was motivated by religion or that Mallet, a local resident, has ties to any other country.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) by the @GCZ_news account on X on Aug. 27, 2026. It read:
🚨🇨🇦 🇵🇸BREAKING: A 68 year old Palestinian Muslim migrant has been arrested for burning down a Catholic church in Canada.
Awful scenes as the steeple of Saint Simon Church collapses while the church is engulfed in flames.
This is what a screenshot of the video looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @GCZ_news on X.)
The video is embedded below:
🚨🇨🇦 🇵🇸BREAKING: A 68 year old Palestinian Muslim migrant has been arrested for burning down a Catholic church in Canada.
-- GCZ (@GCZ_news) August 27, 2026
Awful scenes as the steeple of Saint Simon Church collapses while the church is engulfed in flames. pic.twitter.com/EYX6rFjiQy
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Saint-Simon Catholic Church in New Brunswick was destroyed in a fire on Aug. 24, 2026. Authorities arrested Mallet and charged him with arson, according to a news release (archived here) from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The RCMP responded to questions about Mallet's nationality and faith in an Aug. 31, 2026, email. Cpl. Hans J. Ouellette, RCMP media relations officer, said:
At this time, nothing in the ongoing investigation leads the RCMP to believe that the arson was religiously motivated, or that the man has connections to any other foreign country.
The arrested and charged man is identified as 68-year-old Gilles Mallet, from Saint-Simon New Brunswick. The same community where the fire occurred.
The investigation is ongoing, and as part of the investigation, police will continue working to determine whether hate was a factor in the incident.
News searches
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) for reports matching the terms "Canadian," "church," "fire," "Palestinian," and "migrant" but found none.
