‘Sense of closure’: Lawyers suggest 6 years for ex-priest who abused Nunavut children

IQALUIT — A former Catholic priest took advantage of an already vulnerable community when he inflicted horrific sexual abuse on several Inuit children decades ago, a Crown prosecutor told a sentencing hearing Friday.

An Iqaluit courtroom heard graphic details this week of Eric Dejaeger’s assaults on six girls and one boy between 1978 and 1982 in the hamlet of Igloolik, Nvt.

Dejaeger was previously convicted of dozens more offences against children and adults in Nunavut and Alberta.

The 77-year-old pleaded guilty Thursday to seven counts of indecent assault. On Friday, prosecutor Emma Baasch and defence lawyer Scott Cowan jointly recommended a prison sentence of six years.

Courts have long decried the epidemic of sexual abuse against women and children in Nunavut, Baasch said in her sentencing argument.

“Socio-economic factors and the impact of colonialism not only contributed and contribute to this epidemic but provided the perfect scenario for Eric Dejaeger to inflict years of abuse on the community of Igloolik,” she said.

“Forced relocation, the RCMP dog slaughter, overcrowded housing, food insecurity (and) attempts to eradicate Inuit culture are the very factors that Eric Dejaeger exploited to gain access to his victims and secure their secrecy for decades.”

Baasch told Justice Faiyaz Alibhai that Dejaeger’s guilty plea should be considered a significant mitigating factor in sentencing, as it spared victims from having to testify.

But she said that must be weighed against numerous aggravating factors, including the young age of the victims, the fact that Dejaeger was in a position of trust and the lasting damage from his crimes.

“Ultimately, no sentence can erase the harm,” she said. “Hopefully, the victims can now gain some sense of closure.”

Indecent assault is no longer listed as an offence under the Criminal Code but was when the abuse took place.

“Shame on our predecessors in Parliament, but the maximum sentence for some of these offences was five years,” Cowan said of the decades-old legislation.

He said the law when it existed — combined with modern-day sentencing principles — makes a six-year term “an absolutely square one with justice.”

Considering the time Dejaeger has already served on other sex crime convictions, “what he is getting is effectively a 30-year sentence,” Cowan said.

“Let no one say that Mr. Dejaeger was ever treated leniently.”

In a video feed of the court proceedings, a grey-bearded Dejaeger could be seen sitting with his arms crossed at the defence table. He wore a blue sweatshirt.

Victim impact statements delivered Thursday by the five surviving complainants described how the assaults led to addiction, mental health struggles, poor self-esteem and mistrust.

The youngest victim in this case was four when the abuse started, and others were between six and nine.

Court heard some victims have refused to set foot in a Catholic church as a result of the abuse and that the long-running assaults have harmed the tight-knit community as a whole.

Dejaeger was previously convicted of committing numerous sexual offences while working as an Oblate missionary. He served part of a five-year sentence, beginning in 1990, for sexual crimes against children in Baker Lake, Nvt., committed between 1982 and 1989.

In 2015, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for 32 crimes against Inuit children and some adults between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik. The offences included indecent assault, unlawful confinement and bestiality.

Later that year, he was sentenced for historical sexual offences against children in Alberta, to be served concurrently with his sentence for the earlier Igloolik charges. He was given statutory release on May 19, 2022, after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Alibhai is to hand down his sentence for the latest offences next Thursday.

The judge thanked victims for telling their stories.

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

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2025.

— By Lauren Krugel in Calgary

The Canadian Press