Lawyers seek 6-year prison term for Dejaeger

Crown and defence lawyers are seeking a six-year prison term for former Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger, who pleaded guilty Thursday to six counts of indecently assaulting six children in Igloolik more than 40 years ago.

In an Iqaluit courtroom Friday, the lawyers offered the suggested sentence in a joint submission. About 20 people looked on from the public gallery, including Dejaeger’s surviving victims and some family members.

Crown prosecutor Emma Baasch said colonialism and socioeconomic factors contribute to an “epidemic of sexual abuse in Nunavut,” which provided the “perfect scenario” for Dejaeger to inflict years of abuse on children in Igloolik.

His crimes “continue to cast a shadow on Igloolik and Nunavut,” she said.

Baasch said the fact that Dejaeger, 77, pleaded guilty was a significant mitigating factor that spared victims from having to testify in court.

Dejaeger’s lawyer, Scott Cowan, said the lawyers’ joint submission acknowledges the harm Dejaeger did and offers a “path forward” to forgiveness and healing.

Dejaeger is scheduled to return to court Jan. 30 to be sentenced.

The charges against him relate to his time working as an Oblate priest in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982. He was also charged with two counts of having sex outside marriage without consent, but those charges were withdrawn by the Crown.

Most of Dejaeger’s victims were between four and nine years old. Two of them did not live to see the ex-priest brought to justice, Baasch said.

Dejaeger was charged in June 2023 after he was arrested by police in Kingston, Ont., on a Canada-wide warrant.

Previously, in 2015, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted on 32 charges, mostly involving sexual molestation of children in Igloolik, including indecent assault, sexual assault, forcible confinement and bestiality. Dejaeger was released from prison in 2022 by the Parole Board of Canada.

With the latest convictions, his official list of victims numbers more than 30 young people.

On Friday, Justice Faiyaz Alibhai thanked the lawyers and Dejaeger’s victims who came forward.

“It’s important not only for victims but all of us who live in Nunavut that the truth is told and things that are hidden and kept in the dark are brought into the light,” Alibhai said.

That sentiment was echoed by victims who read their statements in court Thursday. Many blamed the Catholic Church and higher-ranking priests for not stopping their abuser.

“I hate the smell of church,” one victim said, adding she burned her birth certificate because it was issued by the Roman Catholic Church.

Belgian civil rights activist Lieve Halsberghe was instrumental in bringing Dejaeger to justice in Canada in 2010.

The ex-priest fled Canada to Belgium in 1995, where he avoided extradition under the assumption he was still a Belgian citizen. Halsberghe called attention to the case, which led to the discovery Dejaeger had renounced his Belgian citizenship years before.

Halsberghe said there are many others within the church who are responsible for abuse and need to face accountability.

“The history is not history. This is not something in the past, this still continues,” she said, adding there is much to do in supporting the victims and bringing other abusers to justice.