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Canada has asked France for the extradition of Joannes Rivoire, a priest accused of various sex crimes against minors in Nunavut, an area of northern Canada almost exclusively inhabited by Inuit. This priest’s case has been public knowledge for some time, including high church hierarchies, but he has come back to speak out because extradition was requested during the recent visit to Canada by Pope Francis, who apologized on behalf of the Catholic Church for the oppression, violence and abuse perpetrated against indigenous peoples by the clergy between the 19th and 20th centuries.
Beyond the formal apology, Indigenous peoples’ leaders have been demanding for decades that the Rivoire case be addressed: it has become, for them and for Canada, a symbol of impunity for sexual assaults against children committed by members of the Church. . .
On Thursday, August 4, Canadian Justice Minister David Lametti confirmed the news of Rivoire’s extradition request, also saying that “collaboration and collaboration are essential to address the ignominious legacy of boarding schools”, i.e. boarding schools for indigenous peoples, by the Canadian Government established and largely administered by the Catholic Church where children in a system of forced assimilation suffered numerous physical and psychological violence and often lived in conditions on the brink of survival. “It is important to Canada and its international partners that serious crimes are investigated and prosecuted,” said Lametti.
– Also read: Pope Francis has apologized to the indigenous people of Canada
The French Foreign Ministry, in turn, confirmed receipt of the extradition request and said it was currently “being processed by the Ministry of Justice”. Rivoire has dual nationality but his extradition from France, a source close to the case told Agence France-Presse, could pose “a problem” because it is “very complicated” to extradite French nationals.
Today Joannes Rivoire is 91 years old. He lived in Canada from the early 1960s until 1993, when he returned to France, near Lyon, in a residence for priests of the Missionaries of the Oblates of the Immaculate, a male religious institute under pontifical rights. His sudden departure from Canada actually coincided with the filing of two lawsuits against him alleging sexual assault and obscene acts. The facts were committed between 1968 and 1970 on what were then Inuit children. The police did not even manage to question the priest, who had already fled.
Last March, two Le Monde journalists, Marie-Béatrice Baudet and Hélène Jouan, published an investigation into Rivoire and managed to meet and speak to him. In their article, they told how one of the two abusers who reported Rivoire in 1993 was Marius Tungilik: he died in 2012 at the age of 55 “of alcohol abuse”. According to his testimony, the priest sexually abused him in Naujaat, Nunavut region in 1970 when he was 12 years old.
A childhood friend, Piita Irnik, now 75 years old and also an Inuit, described to the two journalists the moment when Marius Tungilik had told him everything: “We had known each other since we were children, but it was only in 1989 when we were joking that the courage had to tell me about it for the first time. It was a very difficult conversation,” said Piita, herself a victim of sexual abuse at an aboriginal boarding school. “Joannes Rivoire ruined the life of my best friend and other Inuit children. I will not rest until it is brought to justice ».
On September 29, 2021, Irnik used a ceremony honoring boarding school survivors to ask Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “where the Rivoire file went.” “We’re working on it,” Trudeau replied.
Joannes Rivoire has always denied any allegation against him, claiming he is innocent. Or rather, that “we are all sinners”, that his life is “almost over” and that he is “preparing to cross over to the other side: I am at peace with God, who I hope will give me paradise”. . The two Le Monde journalists asked Rivoire if he was aware of the complaints filed against him in 1993: “I had nothing to do with it,” she said. And when they asked him if he remembered Marius Tungilik, he replied: “Yes, but I don’t know where I met him. Did you know he was an alcoholic? But make no mistake: he didn’t start drinking because he was abused, he said he was abused because he was ashamed of drinking.”
Canada last February requested a second warrant for Rivoire’s arrest after a new complaint was filed in September 2021 alleging sexual assault in the 1970s and was filed by Louisa Uttak, a 53-year-old Inuit woman.
“I met Father Rivoire twice in my life, in Arviat and Rankin Inlet,” two Inuit settlements in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut: “The first time, in 1974, I was 6,” he told Le Monde. She said the priest waited for the end of Mass and then took her aside and scolded her: “He touched me and masturbated. And when he did that to me, he showed me a picture of the devil and threatened me, “If you say anything, you’ll go to hell.” I was scared, so scared … I was just a little girl ». Louisa Uttak said she found the courage to speak out when she saw her grandchildren growing up: “Now I just want one more thing, Father Rivoire, to ask him: ‘Why? Why did you do that to me? “”
– Also read: What Causes Pedophilia in the Church?
At the end of March, the Inuit representatives of Canada met privately with the Pope and specifically asked him to intervene in the Rivoire case: “We want these victims to experience some semblance of justice and that the families of the deceased victims also witness a recognition of a.” certain responsibility”. However, their demands have existed for decades.
When the Vatican was informed of the allegations against Rivoire, it issued three orders to the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate of France: bar the priest from any contact with minors, place him in residence, and withdraw him from active service. Father Ken Thorson, head of the Oblates of the Immaculate in Canada, said Rivoire should not shy away from justice: “We encourage Johannes Rivoire to do what he should have done a long time ago: cooperate with the police and stand up provide a process, if not in Canada, then in France ». Thorson added that the Oblates are ready to exchange documents and information with the relevant authorities.
During the Pope’s visit to Canada, Aboriginal representatives reiterated their request for intervention: “We want Rivoire extradited to Canada to face the charges and we have asked the Pope to intervene and ask him directly to to return to Canada”.
However, there is precedent regarding former priest Eric Dejaeger, who was expelled from his country of origin Belgium and sentenced to nineteen years in prison in Canada in 2015 for sexually assaulting 23 Inuit children after being charged with pedophile crimes. He was granted parole last May.
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