Suspicious fire destroys century-old church in Fort Chipewyan, Alta.

RCMP are investigating after Fort Chipewyan's century-old Catholic church — one of Alberta's oldest — was destroyed in a suspicious fire early Thursday.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Roman Catholic Church, about 280 kilometres north of Fort McMurray on the shores of Lake Athabasca, was gutted by the fire. 

RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said the cause remains under investigation but arson is suspected. 

"The circumstances to us, at the onset, are fairly suspicious and we will be working with a fire investigator to narrow down what the cause might be," Savinkoff said in an interview.

The historic wooden building was only used occasionally for special services, and sat vacant most of the year.

"We do believe, just because of circumstances, that there is a definite suspicion here," Savinkoff said.

If arson is proven, the Fort Chipewyan church would join a growing list of churches across Canada damaged or destroyed in recent years.

A wave of vandalism followed the reported discoveries last year of unmarked graves at former residential school sites, and a national reckoning over abuses that occurred inside the church-run institutions.

A video posted to social media around 4 a.m. Thursday shows Allan Adam, chief of the Athasbasca Chipewyan First Nation, standing in front of the church as it burns.

Only wooden beams and the shell of one exterior wall remained visible within the flames. 

"The church is on fire. Completely destroyed. There's no saving that now," Adam says in the video.

"As you can see, this is totally engulfed. Over 100 years of history gone up in flames. This was uncalled for. This was a beautiful church."

Adam can be heard in the video instructing firefighters to douse the flames as the structure threatens to collapse onto a nearby fuel tank.

Eventually, he runs away from the burning building.