The Mohawks of Kahnawake, a suburb of Montreal, voted in favor of the exhumation of the remains of a cleric who allegedly committed sexual assaults.
Residents of the Aboriginal territory said last summer that Father Léon Lajoie had assaulted them. They demanded that his remains be removed from the soil of the community.
” I feel relieved. I was so shaken that I had to be told three times that people had voted for the removal of the remains, said a spokeswoman for the group calling for the exhumation, Mélissa Montour-Lazare. I am happy for the victims and wish them good luck in their recovery. They can rest with peace of mind. »
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake announced the results on Saturday, saying 420 people participated in the ballot that took place Friday and Saturday. Two hundred and twenty-three people voted for this measure, 193 opposed it and two votes were invalidated.
Father Lajoie, a Jesuit assigned to Kahnawake from 1961 to 1990, was buried there in 1999. His remains will be transferred to Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians, to a cemetery of the religious order.
The council had agreed to consult the population about the exhumation, because the former elected officials had agreed to bury Father Lajoie in Kahnawake without asking his opinion. A non-Aboriginal does not have the right to be buried on First Nation territory, but an exception was made because of the cleric’s ties to the community.
Mme Montour-Lazare says the vote divided the community at the expense of the victims.
“It put traditionalists, who don’t usually vote, in a bad spot. They were put with their backs to the wall. »
The vote took place after an independent investigation commissioned by the Jesuits failed to uncover formal evidence of assaults, according to the report published on February 28.
Investigative firm King International Advisory Group reviewed archival documents and conducted 20 interviews from November 2021 to February 2022 with people “with relevant information”. According to his report, three potential victims were identified, but only two agreed to testify.
Its founder Brian King said he expected more testimonies, because media had reported 20 victims.
“They spoke to the media, so why didn’t they speak to us? When I investigate a case where there are 20 alleged victims, a certain number will come to testify. »
However, the report notes that there may be several reasons why victims chose not to testify.
Mme Montour-Lazare denounced the report.
“It’s demeaning, it’s deceptive and very hurtful,” she said. This is an example of why people don’t testify. It’s hard enough to say you’re a victim. You can’t rush something like that. You can’t compel someone to make a statement. »
She refused to specify the number of victims who were part of her group, but they did not all identify Father Lajoie as their executioner.
“Some spoke of someone who sometimes visited the parish. »
The investigation nevertheless concluded that one of the complainants had been the victim of “a serious sexual assault at the Saint-François-Xavier mission between 1976 and 1979”.
The council declined to comment on the results of the survey and those of the vote.
“The Lajoie file was treated as an internal matter,” said council spokesman Justus Polson-Lahache. Accordingly, we do not respond to questions from outside media on this matter. »