London police have charged a city hall employee with arson after a suspicious fire at the publicly owned River Road golf course clubhouse on Nov. 7.
Michael Peter Belanger, 54, faces one count of arson causing property damage, London police said in a statement Monday afternoon.
Belanger is a supervisor in London city hall’s fleet services department. He’s been suspended with pay, effective immediately, a city spokesperson said Monday afternoon.
“We take these allegations very seriously. We hold all employees to a high level of accountability in their service to this community. We will co-operate fully in this process,” city hall top manager Lynne Livingstone wrote in an emailed statement.
City hall won’t share any further information about Belanger or the fire “to protect the integrity of the investigation,” officials said.
Livingstone said staff were “shocked” by the fire at the golf course.
“We have been shocked and deeply concerned by the fire at River Road. It is an act of violence that has put some of London’s most vulnerable people at greater risk by compromising the temporary Indigenous-led winter shelter proposed for this site.”
City hall planned to use the River Road golf course and clubhouse as part of its winter response to homelessness. The east-end site would have been operated by Atlohsa Family Healing Services and focus on support for up to 30 Indigenous people.
The organization has since put out a call for an alternative spot, asking Londoners to come forward with any “suitable and safe location that meets our needs to support land-based healing for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness.”
Raymond Deleary, Atlohsa’s executive director, suggested after the fire that it was “unlikely a coincidence,” coming so soon after the shelter was announced.
“We can’t help but connect this to other experiences of anti-Indigenous discrimination in London,” he said.
The blaze caused about $1 million in damage to the clubhouse. There were no injuries.
Belanger is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 7.
City council is expected to give final approval to the $1.9-million winter plan, which was expected to include temporary shelters at both River Road and Fanshawe golf courses, on Tuesday night.
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