Special to The Globe and Mail: Tanya Taluga – Inuit leader Natan Obed’s plea to the head of the Catholic Church to intervene on the extradition of a French Oblate priest charged with sexual assault in Canada was one of the most poignant moments I witnessed in Rome in 2022.
Mr. Obed, the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) and an intergenerational survivor of Indian residential schools, was there as part of an Indigenous delegation to seek an apology from Pope Francis for the unspeakable crimes that occurred during that era. When his small Inuit delegation met the pontiff in the Apostolic Palace, Mr. Obed said, they brought gifts, including a seal fur stole – and he pressed for a personal intervention to send Rev. Johannes Rivoire to Canada to face trial. I remember that there was, dare I say, a measure of hope that day.
Father Rivoire, now in his mid-90s, has faced accusations of sexual assault of Inuit youth from his time working in what is now Nunavut in the 1960s and 70s, but he has long evaded going to trial, having moved to France. He has refused to return to Canada even after a 1998 arrest warrant was issued regarding three sexual-abuse charges; they were eventually stayed. In 2022, the RCMP charged him again with sexual abuse, but France has rejected an extradition request from the Canadian government.
For two years, the Inuit have been working closely with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), trying to convince all the powers that be that he must return to Canada to face trial.
That is why a late February announcement from the Vatican – that Catholic leaders ruled against dismissing Father Rivoire from the Oblates, which ran 48 Indian residential schools – was disastrous. It effectively blew up the foundations of any bridges they were building.
After that Vatican visit, and the Pope’s July apologies in Maskwacis, Alta., and in Iqaluit, it is unconscionable that the Catholic Church’s leaders continue to protect Father Rivoire.
“It is really disheartening, but in line with the incredulous way in which the church has responded to Inuit and our pleas for justice,” Mr. Obed told me on Tuesday.
He’s not the only one stunned by Rome’s inaction. Rev. Ken Thorson, the leader of the Oblates in Canada, said in an e-mail that while dismissing Father Rivoire would have only been symbolic, it was necessary. The Oblates in Canada and in France both strongly recommended expulsion.
“We were deeply disappointed by this news and wish to apologize to any victims or family members who continue to suffer from a legacy of abuse,” he wrote. Father Thorson added that Canada’s Oblates have engaged a retired Quebec Superior Court judge to lead an independent review of the allegations against Father Rivoire, which will release its report within weeks.
Throwing Father Rivoire out would have signalled that the church is willing to change. But instead, it lived up to its image as an out-of-date, patriarchal and hierarchical institution that does not care about its flock. If it did, after all, Father Rivoire would have been dismissed, and the long-awaited report from the Oblates in Canada about anyone associated with the order who is credibly accused to have committed crimes against children would have been released. The Jesuits released their list last year.
Mr. Obed, the ITK and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated – the legal representatives of the Inuit in Nunavut – have made appeals to many institutions to obtain an extradition: the Catholic Church, the CCCB, the governments of Canada and France. A delegation of Inuit leaders and survivors even went to France and confronted Father Rivoire, face to face, in 2022.
Inuit communities are rightly frustrated. “I have talked repeatedly to the Prime Minister and that has ultimately led to nothing. Less than nothing,” Mr. Obed told me.
I asked him: After two years of disappointment, how can he rationalize this dereliction of duty and faith?
“I keep coming back to the Bible and understanding the Bible,” he told me. “I was raised in a religious family. I think of Galatians 6: God is not mocked. That is something that is intentionally fearful. It certainly feels like it applies here. If the Catholic Church, in the way they operate, is in relation to the Bible, I don’t know how they themselves cannot be afraid by their shepherding [an alleged] sexual predator from justice.”
We’ve lived this revolting story too many times. We’ve heard all the promises and platitudes from governments and religious leaders. We know that all we get is emptiness.
Only Canada, France and the Vatican can turn it around. Do they have the moral will to do so?