The Trudeau government confirmed on Wednesday that it has filed a request with the French authorities to extradite the priest Joannès Rivoire, so that he can face charges of sexual abuse which allegedly occurred while he was working in northern Canada. , in Nunavut.
Posted at 7:58 p.m.
“An extradition request has been made to France concerning Mr. Rivoire. The request was made by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada through Department of Justice officials. In order to preserve the integrity of the process, we will not comment further,” he told The Press Federal Department of Justice spokesman Ian McLeod via email.
This confirmation is of an “exceptional” nature, adds the ministry, recalling that communications concerning extradition requests between countries are normally “confidential”. On Tuesday, the British news agency Reuters had already revealed that the French government had indeed received the request, citing however unidentified diplomatic sources.
It all comes as the Nunavut branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) brought a new charge this spring against Johannès Rivoire, 47 years after the alleged sexual assault of an Inuit woman who testified that the father masturbated. caressing her, when she was 6 years old.
Between 1998 and 2017, Joannès Rivoire was under an arrest warrant issued by the RCMP. He was facing charges of sexually assaulting three Inuit children, including Inuit leader Marius Tungilik, in the late 1960s. In 2017, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, however, stayed the charges, ruling that he there was no longer any reasonable prospect of condemnation against the Catholic priest.
Marius Tungilik sadly passed away on December 16, 2012, in the morning. It was his son Jesse who found him lifeless in his bed. At the time, the coroner’s report concluded that heart failure was due to alcohol poisoning. His son, however, very clearly saw a suicide. “My father got drunk to death”, he had testified to the columnist of The PressIsabelle Hachey, last April.
“Repairing the Shame Legacy of Residential Schools”
Reached on this subject, the Canadian Minister of Justice, David Lametti, argued “that it is important for Canada and its international partners that serious crimes be fully investigated and prosecuted”. “Collaboration and cooperation are essential to repairing the shameful legacy of residential schools. We are working with Indigenous peoples to advance the important work of reconciliation in Canada,” he added.
This extradition request also comes at a time when Pope Francis is visiting Canada; moreover, he is in Quebec on Wednesday and Thursday to deliver speeches and hold a high mass. The stated purpose of his trip to Canada – he has already been to Edmonton and is next due to visit Iqaluit – is precisely to offer an apology to Indigenous communities for the mistreatment and sexual abuse that members of the Catholic Church subjected them to, particularly in boarding schools.
Mr. Lametti says his government remains “committed to working with First Nations, Inuit and Métis across Canada to move forward on the path of healing and reconciliation.” “No relationship is more important than that with Indigenous peoples,” he said.
Like his ministry, David Lametti also clarified that as a minister, “I cannot normally say whether a particular extradition request has been made”, emphasizing in turn the rather rare nature of such a official confirmation.
House arrest
Since 2013, Father Rivoire has been under house arrest, after a canonical investigation was held on his case. An alternative sentence to prison, house arrest means that he cannot leave a certain perimeter, and is constantly monitored. However, he was never tried for the charges against him by Canadian justice.
Now 91 years old, Joannès Rivoire lives in Lyon, in an accommodation establishment for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) – the equivalent of a CHSLD, in France. The daily The world noted in March 2022 “that he hides in his room and only leaves it for meals”, having difficulty moving around physically.
“You know he was an alcoholic? he asked the World, speaking of Marius Tungilik. But make no mistake, he didn’t start drinking because he was abused, he said he was abused because he was ashamed to drink. »
With Isabelle Hachey and Vincent Larin, The Press