Canada has requested the extradition of a French priest accused of sexually assaulting Inuit children more than 30 years ago, who has become for many a symbol of impunity within the Church, confirmed Thursday August 4 Canadian Justice Minister David Lametti.
"
I am aware of the fact that an extradition request sent to France has been made public, which the officials of my ministry have just confirmed
", indicated the federal minister in an email sent to AFP, refusing to give more details.
“
It is important to Canada and its international partners that serious crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted
,” he added.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed having received this request, "
being processed by the Ministry of Justice
".
Never worried by the authorities
This announcement comes as Pope Francis has just completed a trip to Canada, where he asked for forgiveness for the violence committed in residential schools, where many children had been victims of abuse.
Father Johannes Rivoire, who spent three decades in Canada's Far North, has been the subject of an arrest warrant in Canada since February, after a new complaint was filed in September for a sexual assault that occurred there about 47 years old.
He has so far never been charged and the authorities have not specified the total number of his alleged victims.
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Johannes Rivoire had already been the subject of an arrest warrant between 1998 and 2017 for sexual assaults against three minors.
It was never acted upon.
The priest left Canada in 1993 and now lives in France, in Lyon.
But Johannes Rivoire, who has dual nationality, represents "
a problem
" because it is "
very complicated
" to extradite French people, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
The nonagenarian, recently questioned by the media, proclaims his innocence.
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In the Canadian North, his case remains emblematic of the impunity of sexual aggressors in the Church.
“
We would like Rivoire to be extradited to Canada to face his charges in court and we have asked the Pope to intervene to ask him to return to Canada
,” Kilikvak Kabloona, an Inuit representative from the country, told AFP. Nunavut, during the Pope's visit.
