Nunavut Rcmp Seek Another Oblate Fugitive

By David Murphy
Nunatsiaq Online
November 28, 2013

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_rcmp_seek_another_oblate_fugitive/

Father Joannes Rivoire, who now lives in France, faces four sex charges related to incidents alleged to have occurred in Nunavut between 1968 and 1970. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut RCMP are on the hunt for another Oblate priest who faces historic sex crime allegations in Nunavut.

The RCMP issued a news release Nov. 28 stating that there is a Canada-wide warrant for the arrest of 83-year-old Father Joannes Rivoire.

The warrant was actually issued in 1998, but nothing has been done to find him since.

The warrant is “in relation to sexual assaults allegedly committed in Nunavut between 1968 and 1970,” the news release said.

Rivoire is believed to currently live in a monastery in southern France. He left Canada in 1993.

Yvonne Niego, a communications spokesperson for the Nunavut RCMP, said three charges were laid in 1997.

Two of the charges involved sexual interference and having sex with a child under the age of 14.

There are four complainants associated with those charges, Niego said.

“If he returns to Canada he will be arrested and brought before justice,” Niego said.

Niego could not confirm in which community the charges are alleged to have occurred.

Rivoire lived in several northern communities starting in the 1960s. It’s believed those communities include Repulse Bay and Arviat.

Niego said there is no “red notice” warrant from the world’s largest police organization, Interpol.

Red notice is the highest-level warrant, which aims to “seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action.”

Niego said, however, “there is a legal process that needs to be followed, and we are exploring all the possibilities to bring him back to Canada.”

Another Oblate priest from Europe, Eric Dejaeger, is currently on trial for 77 sex charges alleged to have occurred between 1978 and 1982.

Of those, he has pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault.

Dejaeger, a Belgian-born Oblate missionary who became a Canadian citizen in the 1970s, has already served a five-year prison sentence imposed in 1990 after he was found guilty of sex crimes that occurred in Baker Lake between 1982 and 1989.