Franco-Canadian priest Joannes Rivoire, accused of sexual assault on young Inuit in the Canadian Far North in the 1960s and 1970s, has died in France. The man was seen, particularly in Canada, as the symbol of impunity for sexual attackers within the Catholic Church.
A first arrest warrant was issued by Canada in 1998, but no action was taken and it was lifted in 2017. In 2022, a new complaint was filed in Canada where there is no statute of limitations on sexual crimes. But in October of the same year, France rejected the extradition request to Canada, explaining that it was a complex case and that it did not extradite its citizens. For the organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canadian Inuit, “it is tragic that Rivoir was able to end his days without having to answer in court for the sexual abuse he committed” Even the procedures for exclusion from the congregation, initiated in recent months against the religious, have failed.