a delegation of Inuit demands justice against Father Rivoire, accused of pedophilia

The tears and emotion of a man who came from Canada to seek justice. Steve Mapsalak, a member of a Canadian Inuit community, says he was sexually assaulted as a child by a French priest on a mission in the region. “Father Rivoire knows what he did. And what he did was wrong, very wrong. I always thought I was the only victim, but I learned that there were many others. “, he confides. It was in Nunavut, in the Canadian Far North, that a first complaint was filed in 1990 against Father Rivoire. The French priest was sent on a mission to the region for 30 years.

He is accused of having sexually abused several children during this period. After several extradition requests were rejected by the French courts, a delegation of Inuits arrived in Lyon (Rhône), Wednesday September 14, to meet him. The man, now 92, denies all charges. The congregation in which the priest lives today has initiated dismissal proceedings against him, to push him to present himself to Canadian justice. “There must be justice for the victims”, says Vincent Gruber, Provincial of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. An international arrest warrant was issued earlier this year.