(Rome) The head of the national organization representing the Inuit met with the head of a Catholic order in Rome to discuss the case of a priest accused of crimes against children in Nunavut.
Posted at 11:57 a.m.
“I hope the faith of the Catholic Church will dictate that they will work with us in a case where there are serious allegations of sexual abuse, especially sexual assault of minors,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
Obed said he had an hour-long meeting Thursday with Louis Lougen, Superior General of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, to discuss the Church’s responsibility to ensure Johannes Rivoire stands trial in Canada. .
The meeting came after Mr Obed asked Pope Francis at a Vatican meeting on Monday to personally intervene in Rivoire’s case.
“I imagine this is an extraordinary request from the pope, but that was the whole point of the request,” Obed said. The pope is someone with extraordinary powers beyond the bodies we have tried to work many hours with on this case. »
A Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued in February for Rivoire, who is over 90 and lives in Lyon, France. Nunavut RCMP say officers received a complaint last year about sexual assaults that allegedly took place about 47 years ago.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq holds a photo of Johannes Rivoire during a press conference in Ottawa, July 2021.
Rivoire was in Canada from the early 1960s until 1993, when he returned to France.
A warrant was also issued for him in 1998. He faced at least three sexual assault charges in the Nunavut communities of Arviat, Rankin Inlet and Naujaat. More than two decades later, the charges have been stayed.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said at the time that this was partly due to France’s reluctance to extradite.
Mr. Obed said he was told that Mr. Lougen had personally contacted the priest and that Rivoire had refused to comply with the order to return to Canada.
Father Lougen pledged to work with Inuit to seek justice in the case, although no details were provided, Obed added.
On Friday, Mr. Obed was among the indigenous delegates who attended a final meeting with the pope at the Vatican. In a historic apology, Pope Francis said he was “very sorry” for the Church’s role in residential schools in Canada. He also asked God’s forgiveness for the deplorable conduct of church members.
“I believe we are at a time when the eyes of Canada and the eyes of the world are on this particular encounter, a papal apology, and also a better understanding of what happened and that justice has not been done. was not possible for the victims, Mr. Obed said. I think this obliges the Catholic Church to act. »
Earlier in the week, Mr. Obed asked the pope to speak directly with Rivoire and ask him to travel to Canada to face the accusation. Mr. Obed also asked the pope to ask France to intervene if Rivoire is not receptive.
The Canadian leader of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Father Ken Thorson, has also written to Canadian Justice Minister David Lametti, offering the religious order’s cooperation in any investigation.
Inuit leaders and politicians, from senators to Nunavut premiers, continued to press for the priest to face trial. These calls have multiplied with the discovery of unmarked graves on the sites of former boarding schools run by the Catholic Church.
Piita Irniq, an Inuit elder who has been fighting for more than a decade for Rivoire’s return to Canada, said there are at least six Inuit still alive who allege Rivoire abused them.
“There’s been a lot of pressure and a lot of talk, so I think the people I’ve spoken to have a lot of hope,” Irniq said earlier this week. It looks more like justice. »
With information from Bob Weber in Edmonton