MONTREAL (CANADA)
La Croix International [France]
December 18, 2021
By Alexis Gacon
“He only touched me once. I never put myself in a situation where it could happen again.”
Michael Diabo was 10 years old when Jesuit Léon Lajoie allegedly sexually assaulted him while he was getting bread at the church in Kahnawake, a southern suburb of Montreal.
He never spoke of it before this summer. But 45 years later, he discovered something that would no longer let him remain silent.
“The story of the Kamloops graves made me realize that I was not the only victim of the Church,” Diabo said.
Like others, the discovery of 215 unidentified children’s remains on the grounds of the Kamloops (British Columbia) residential school brought the trauma to the surface.
In communities like Kahnawake, where Lajoie was the parish priest from 1961-1990, word is getting out.
The Jesuit was a key figure in the village. And when he died in 1999 he was among one of the few non-Mohawks to be buried in the territory.
Diabo said this was an affront to this First Nations community.
“Three people, who did not know what a sick man he was, asked our council to let him be buried here,” he said.
In recent months, the multiple allegations against the priest have raised a question among Mohawks: should his coffin be moved?
Protesters believe his mortal remains no longer belong here. They have collected more than 200 signatures to have them removed from the community’s territory.
Ross Montour, the chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, has seen the wave of anger unfold.
“Some people have even asked us to burn down the church. It’s complicated because Father Lajoie designed the youth center, among other things,” he said.
“I never felt uncomfortable with him. These are serious allegations about facts that go back more than 30 years. But why accuse him now?” the chief asked.
The protesters asked to meet with the Jesuits, and an independent investigation was launched in early November to shed light on the case. Its conclusions should be made public before the end of the year.
“Failures of the Church”
José Sanchez, communications director for the Jesuits of Canada, maintains that the investigation of the religious community’s archives did not reveal any complaints of priestly misconduct.
“In the past year, the Catholic Church has received many complaints of abuse from indigenous communities,” he said.
“We believe that some of these are due to the discovery of undocumented graves at former residential schools,” Sanchez added.
In his opinion, anger over what are seen as “failures of the Church” to respond to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also weighs heavily.
This commission was established between 2008 and 2015 to shed light on what happened in the residential schools and its repercussions.
Alain Arsenault, a lawyer who represents indigenous people who have filed a class action suit against the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) in Quebec for alleged abuse, says victims are more willing to speak out.
He is going around the native communities that were once run by the Oblates to gather testimonies.
“The graves that were discovered this summer and the media coverage of them have accelerated things,” Arsenault said.”I tell my assistants that with every interview given, get ready for new witnesses…and it doesn’t fail!” he pointed out.
His office has already collected more than 200 testimonies.
“The Oblates specialized in the management of remote indigenous communities; they had a great deal of freedom. In some villages, almost all the children were abused,” the lawyer said.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate did not respond to our emails. In 2018, they said they wanted to respond “with compassion” to the plaintiffs.
Arsenault said the class-action lawsuits of recent years are evidence that the First Nations people are “regaining power”.
“People are becoming aware of the extent of the abuse. They are no longer alone, and by talking about it, they are taking a step toward healing,” he said.
When he began his work in 2018, few people wanted to talk to him.
“Now they ask us to come back a second time, because they have too much to tell us,” he added.