Online fundraiser aims to raise $1M for historic St. Anne’s church after fire

An online fundraiser is aiming to raise $1 million in donations to help a historic Toronto church that was severely damaged by a fire over the weekend.

St. Anne’s Anglican Church, a national historic site, housed early paintings by three Group of Seven members as well as other Canadian artists.

A Sunday morning fire destroyed the building’s dome and caused heavy damage to the rest of the Byzantine-style church built in the early 1900s – no one was inside the church at the time of the blaze.

A member of the choir at St. Anne’s has started a fundraiser on GoFundMe, which had raised more than $12,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

Isabella Cairess Favaro says in the fundraising appeal that all donations will go to St. Anne’s to help restore the church, replace choir instruments and music lost in the blaze and help arrange interim facilities for services.

Toronto police have said the fire is not being treated as suspicious at this time, and the Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating.

1:33 St. Anne’s Church fire: Parishioners hold 1st Sunday service since historic building destroyed