Video of boisterous event at Montreal oratory draws criticism, claims that it's fake

A screengrab of a video shared on social media of an event at St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. (@montrealonly/Instagram)

EDITOR'S NOTE -- On Wednesday, three days after this report was published, Saint Joseph's Oratory retracted its hypothesis that the video is fake. An update to this story is available here. 

A video appearing to show a rowdy celebration at Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal has drawn considerable attention online, with some viewers calling participants disrespectful, while others say the footage itself might be fake.

The video was shared on a popular Montreal Instagram page at around midnight between Saturday and Sunday. It shows a group of people gathered on the steps of the oratory. They’re positioned around a bright red light, possibly shone by a flare. Some people are playing drums, others are dancing and singing. Smoke or steam swirls above their heads.

Several people commented online to denounce the video, accusing the participants of setting a fire.

“Wow, that’s rude,” wrote one commenter. “This is so sad and disrespectful. I hope the police got involved,” wrote another.

Montreal police, for their part, did not get involved. Nobody called them. CTV News also reached out to the fire department, which responded to say firefighters hadn’t been called to any fires in or around the church that night. 

DID IT REALLY HAPPEN? CHURCH DOESN’T THINK SO

Curiously, when CTV reached out to the oratory itself, a spokesperson said a team had gone to survey the area, and found no evidence of the event.

What’s more, church spokesperson Danielle Decelles says no one nearby, including nuns and priests who live in the area, heard or saw any signs of the event Saturday night.

That lead management to float another hypothesis, it told CTV – that the video is fake.

According to Decelles, the church believes the video was assembled by splicing footage from different sources.

However, after speaking with Decelles, CTV News found two more videos, which appear to show the same event.

One video, which was posted to Snapchat and timestamped “Saturday, 7:45 p.m.,” shows a group of people gathering at the church’s steps in matching orange shirts. The second video shows a group of people in the same spot, many of them also wearing orange shirts, jumping and celebrating in front of what looks like a flare.

CTV reached out to the authors of both videos, but hasn’t heard back.

 

 

 

 

 

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With reporting from The Canadian Press.