Retired Quebec judge says he believes sexual abuse allegations against former Nunavut priest

— Canadian Oblates commissioned Andre Denis to investigate handling of allegations against Johannes Rivoire

Former Quebec Superior Court justice André Denis leads the Oblate Safeguarding Commission, an independent review of historical allegations of sexual abuse against Johannes Rivoire in present-day Nunavut.

By Emma Tranter, Tessa Vikander

A retired Quebec Superior Court judge, in a report commissioned by the Canadian Oblates, says he believes allegations made against former Nunavut priest Johannes Rivoire of sexually abusing children in the territory are true.

The report, written by Andre Denis, also suggests the Catholic church was not aware of the allegations made against Rivoire at the time because the RCMP didn’t notify them.

“Rivoire did not tell the whole truth to his superiors, to his confrères, to the Inuit for whom he had pastoral responsibility, and he himself denies a reality that has nevertheless been demonstrated,” Denis wrote in a 57-page report released Tuesday.

Denis’s report is not a legal finding of guilt. His investigation makes conclusions based on a “preponderance of evidence,” and not “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Rivoire, an Oblate priest from France, has long faced allegations he sexually abused children in Nunavut in the 1960s and 1970s. He spent more than 30 years working as a priest in the territory, mostly in Arviat and Naujaat.

Rivoire, who is 92 and lives in Lyon, France, and his lawyer have denied all of the allegations against him. CBC has reached out to Rivoire’s lawyer about the report, but has not received a response.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France hired Denis to investigate how past allegations against Rivoire were addressed within the congregation.

“The scandal for the plaintiffs is that Joannès Rivoire remains a religious despite all he has done. This is a reality the victims do not accept,” Denis wrote.

Tall man in black frock, in black and white.
Rev. Johannes Rivoire moved to Nunavut in the 1960s and stayed there until returning to France in 1993.

6 years before charges were laid

Denis travelled to France, Italy and Canada, including Nunavut, where he interviewed some of Rivoire’s alleged victims.

He also met at length with Rivoire, who denied the allegations but claimed he had a consenting sexual relationship with a woman in the territory.

Denis also concluded the Catholic church didn’t try to help him escape the Canadian justice system.

Three charges of sexual abuse were laid against Rivoire in 1998. They were stayed in 2017 after the Crown decided there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

A new charge was brought forward in 2022 and an arrest warrant was issued for Rivoire.

Days before the first complaint was filed with the RCMP in 1993, Rivoire fled Canada for France.

Denis says Rivoire told the church he needed to return home to take care of his elderly parents.

The RCMP finally charged Rivoire in 1998.

“The RCMP had no communication with the Oblates, nor did they notify them of anything throughout the legal process,” Denis wrote.

“Had these complaints been brought before the court in 1993, it is possible to believe that Joannès Rivoire would have returned to Nunavut to face Canadian justice. He probably could have been persuaded to do so.”

Denis says the Oblates were not informed of Rivoire’s charges until more than a decade later.

Five seated people look at the camera.
Delegates with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. speaking to media in Paris, France, in an effort to push the French government to extradite Johannes Rivoire in 2022.

Inuit survivors began speaking publicly about what they went through. A delegation also travelled to France in 2022, and asked that Rivoire return to Canada and face trial, and advocates for survivors of child sexual abuse in France also campaigned on the issue. The Oblates in both countries supported the request.

Although the priest has faced several criminal charges from the Canadian courts, France does not typically extradite people, and in October 2022, the country denied the latest request for Rivoire’s extradition.

Last month, leadership in Rome ruled against Rivoire’s dismissal from the Oblates.

‘I was angry’

Tanya Tungilik, whose late father Marius Tungilik had accused Rivoire of sexual abuse, said she had mixed feelings after reading the report.

“I was angry at a lot of parts but glad that [Denis] said that Rivoire was guilty of the crimes … that he believed us,” she said on Tuesday.

A woman wearing a blue traditional Inuit amauti
Tanya Tungilik, pictured in Rankin Inlet in 2022. Tungilik, whose late father Marius Tungilik had accused Rivoire of sexual abuse, said she believes RCMP also need to be held accountable for why Rivoire was not charged until 1998.

Tungilik said she was troubled by how long it took for the RCMP to investigate the allegations brought against Rivoire.

“Why did it take so long?” she said. “They need to be held accountable, too.”

She also said she doesn’t believe Denis’s claim that the Oblates didn’t know about the allegations made against Rivoire.

“I’m glad that it’s out there,” Tungilik said. “But I’m disappointed and angry that he says that the Oblates didn’t know at all.”

Facts hidden

Denis met with Rivoire in Lyon, France, in the spring of 2023, but explains in the report that he doesn’t believe “the version of events” that Rivoire told him.

Instead, Rivoire left Canada “hiding this terrible reality” from church authorities. He told a “true but incomplete story” that he was only returning to France to care for his sick parents.

Reflecting on meeting the Inuit delegates in 2022, Denis said Rivoire told him he thought those who were accusing him “may be trying to get money out of the Oblates.”

Denis’ research of historical documents found Rivoire “did not tell the whole truth to his superiors.”

His report quotes a 2013 conversation between Rivoire and Father Yves Chalvet de Récy, when Chalvet had just learned of the arrest warrant for Rivoire.

At that point, Rivoire is said to have told Chalvet the children he was accused of abusing “were looking for tenderness that they didn’t have in their families.”

“If I’m not innocent, the children aren’t either,” Rivoire told Chalvet.

“It’s true that I’m not innocent, but allegations of sexual assaults on minors are a fabrication. That’s why I came back to France in the first place.”

Ken Thorson, provincial lead of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Lacombe, poses for a photo.
Ken Thorson, provincial lead of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Lacombe, says he accept the report’s findings.

Rev. Ken Thorson, with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Lacombe Canada, said they accept the report’s findings “with a heavy heart.”

“We wish to apologize unequivocally to anyone who was harmed by an Oblate priest and to continue taking concrete steps towards transparency and transformation, informed by guidance from victims, survivors and Inuit representatives.”

Complete Article HERE!

Priest facing sexual assault charge in Nunavut will not be dismissed from Oblates

— A French priest accused of sexually abusing Inuit children in Nunavut will be allowed to remain a member of the Oblates congregation after leadership in Rome ruled against his dismissal.

by Kelly Geraldine Malone

Johannes Rivoire, who is in his mid-90s and lives in Lyon, France, has long faced allegations of sexual abuse during his time in Nunavut.

“I was deeply disappointed,” said Rev. Ken Thorson with OMI Lacombe Canada.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France had appealed to leadership in Rome in 2022 to commence the dismissal proceedings against Rivoire after the Catholic priest refused to return to Canada to face charges.

An arrest warrant was issued for Rivoire earlier that year on a charge of indecent assault involving a girl in Arviat and Whale Cove, Nvt., between 1974 and 1979. French authorities later denied an extradition request from Canadian judicial authorities.

The priest previously avoided trial when he refused to return to Canada after a warrant was issued for his arrest in 1998. He faced at least three charges of sexual abuse in the Nunavut communities of Arviat, Rankin Inlet and Naujaat. More than two decades later, the charges were stayed.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said at the time it was partly due to France’s reluctance to extradite.

Justice Minister Arif Virani said Tuesday that Canada is now working with Interpol on the case. Canada is requesting a “red notice” through Interpol, which means if Rivoire were to ever leave French territory authorities elsewhere could arrest him.

“I would say to people that are concerned and angry that I share their concern, I share their anger,” Virani told reporters on Parliament Hill.

Virani said Rivoire stands accused of “reprehensible conduct, and we need to ensure that justice is pursued” against anyone accused of that many severe crimes.

Rivoire has denied all allegations against him, and none have been proven in court.

Inuit leaders and politicians have continued to urge that the priest face trial. Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said he asked Pope Francis during an Indigenous delegation to the Vatican in 2022 to speak directly with Rivoire

A 10-member delegation led by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., a group representing Nunavut Inuit, travelled to France later that year and spoke with Rivoire, asking the priest to return to Canada. That group has claimed up to 60 children may have been abused by the priest.

Last year, nearly a dozen members of BeBrave France, the French chapter of a global advocacy movement that aims to end sexual violence against children, demonstrated outside the retirement home where Rivoire was living. He has since been relocated into the Oblates’ administration house in Lyon, because of the attention he was getting at the previous facility, Thorson said.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate said it has also repeatedly urged Rivoire to face the charges, but he has refused.

Thorson said the disciplinary proceedings included two warnings and a formal recommendation. Rivoire’s counsel cited his declining health, with medical advice against more than one hour of air travel, as a reason he couldn’t return, Thorson said.

Considering Rivoire’s health, the Oblate administration in Rome did not proceed with dismissal from the congregation, Thorson said.

The dismissal would not have forced Rivoire to return to Canada, but Thorson said it would have been symbolic of the church’s commitment to accountability and reconciliation.

“I recognize we missed opportunities to take what could have been healing steps in this case,” Thorson said.

“That’s a regret that I carry.”

Thorson said he hopes an independent investigation into the allegations against Rivoire and the Oblates’ handling of the situation can still provide some justice.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France appointed former Superior Court justice André Denis to lead the Oblate Safeguarding Commission.

The commission is to understand how allegations against Rivoire were addressed within the Catholic congregation and to identify improvements to Oblate policies and governance to better protect minors and ensure accountability.

It is also to review the circumstances under which Rivoire left Canada.

A final written report is to be made public no later than April 1.

Complete Article HERE!

Barriers continue for those seeking residential school documents from P.A. Diocese

Shoes are placed on the steps of St. Mark’s Parish in Prince Albert in June 2021.

By Derek Craddock

While a search for residential school documents from Prince Albert is hitting many obstacles and leaving some frustrated, the local Diocese says it’s doing what it can to help.

On Oct. 25, Saskatchewan’s Treaty Commissioner was asked to speak in front of the Senate Committee for Indigenous Peoples. There she relayed the difficulty her office has had obtaining documents for four residential schools: St. Michael’s in Duck Lake, Beauval, Delmas, and St. Anthony’s in Onion Lake.

Mary Musqua-Culbertson, the Treaty Commissioner for Saskatchewan said the Senate Committee has been investigating barriers to accessing documents and supporting communities that have residential school sites or are in charge of GPR (ground penetrating radar) projects about missing children and unmarked graves.

The request to access these documents first started in June 2021, following the discovery of 215 possible unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site.

“We have a timeline, and it lays out the difficulties and the barriers and so that’s why I was there to primarily give evidence,” Culbertson said.

She said they contacted the Prince Albert Roman Catholic Diocese and were promised by the bishop at the time that church records would be released. However, they later found out that the bishop had retired and a new bishop, Steven Hero was being appointed.

It wasn’t long after that and numerous phone calls to the Diocese that Culbertson said that they received a letter stating that the Diocese “never owned or operated any residential school.”

“Now someone replies to you like that, would you be shocked, that there’s denial right away? It’s like a corporation protecting itself,” she said.

“They denied that there was a commitment to share documents in the Diocese archives, and they stated that some St. Michael documents were microfilmed by the Saskatchewan Archives Society and were available in Regina and that some were held at Saint Paul University.”

However, Culbertson claimed St. Paul University told them they had no records belonging to the Prince Albert Catholic Diocese and that they needed permission from the Diocese to view the microfilmed documents.

Speaking with paNOW, Bishop Steven Hero said his Diocese has done everything it can to support the search for residential school documents since June 2021.

In response to the letter and claims of denial from Culbertson, Hero said the Diocese was speaking truthfully.

“The Catholic Diocese of Prince Albert didn’t own or operate any residential schools in our territory. They were owned and operated by Catholic religious congregations,” he said. “So, we have relatively few documents in our archives from the schools.”

Schools like St. Anthony’s, Delmas, and St. Michael’s were operated by Catholic organizations within the church like the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) and the Faithful Companions of Jesus. Despite having several missionaries in the area in the last 19th Century, the Prince Albert Catholic Diocese wasn’t officially formed until 1907.

The Oblates have previously apologized for their involvement in residential schools and the harm they inflicted on Indigenous Peoples. Rev. Ken Thorson of the OMI Lacombe Canada based in Ottawa said in a news release that transparency is critical to truth and reconciliation efforts.

“While it has been a constructive year of partnership, I know that these steps are only the beginning of a continued journey towards truth, justice, healing and reconciliation.”

The Oblates operated 48 residential schools, including the Marieval Indian Residential School at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan and the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

The St. Alban’s (All Saints) Indian Residential School in Prince Albert was run by the Anglican Church of Canada. The Church responded to paNOW saying “All student records in our possession were transferred to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.” Those records are available online.

Hero said they have been able to share some documents they have, but noted they don’t have everything in their registers.

“We have some documents relating to the schools and the Diocese of Prince Albert gave copies of those documents to the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) in 2016, and those are now housed at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.

We invited their researchers here. We gave them a tour of our archives. We gave them lists of all the documents that we have so that they could take away with them and they could request to see anything they wanted but those documents are also at the National Centre.”

Hero admitted the Diocese asked for a confidentiality agreement as some of the parish records contained personal information not just about children that went to the schools but of other community members.

Another obstacle that the Office of the Treaty Commissioner has revealed is translating the documents from French to English. Culbertson said that when tracking down documents for the Beauval Residential School, they were shocked to find out they were in Richelieu, Quebec.

Culbertson said they have been working with Dr. Winona Wheeler, the department head of Native Studies to help collect these documents and thankfully have hired French translators.

She expressed her disappointment at not having archivists from the Vatican appear before the Senate Committee for Indigenous Peoples because they can’t read French.

“That’s a poor excuse when you have a senate that’s all translators in order to make sure that documents that evidence is being presented in a fair manner that everyone has access to.”

Hero said the Diocese will continue to assist Indigenous people access information they need, including helping the Office of the Treaty Commissioner in its journey to find residential school records.

“We have several First Nations communities, there are groups in the Diocese that are researching their history and the history of the school that was in their area,” he said. “So we’re cooperating actively with those projects.”

At the end of the day, Culbertson said this mission is more than just finding documents and pieces of paper, it’s about closure and righting the wrongs done to Indigenous peoples.

“That does not matter who it is, whether it’s the Government of Canada, whether it’s the operators of schools, whether it’s personnel who works in schools, or religious organizations and entities,” she said.

“Because nobody is coming with clean hands and some of the narratives that are out there from people who will represent these organizations coming to the table at the Senate Committee hearing can be quite shocking.”

paNOW has reached out to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation for their input on this story.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

Complete Article HERE!

Stó:lō Nation residential school probe finds 158 child deaths, potential unmarked graves

A 1957 aerial photo of St. Mary’s Residential School at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission. Several years later the buildings were demolished after the new school was built in 1960.

By

Stó:lō Nation announced the discovery of 158 deaths, in addition to marked and potential unmarked graves, at sites associated with former residential schools in Mission, Chilliwack and Yale on Thursday (Sept. 21).

At the historical grounds of St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission, the Xyólhmet ye Syéwiqwélh (Taking Care of Our Children) team provided an update on findings from work investigating missing children and unmarked burials at St. Mary’s in Mission, All Hallows School in Yale, as well as Coqualeetza Industrial Institute and Coqualeetza Indian Hospital in Chilliwack.

“Our people are carrying mixed emotions. We’re on a journey to confirming the truth that we carry in our DNA. We’re on our journey to discover facts to what we have already heard from our great grandparents, our grandparents, past chiefs and leaders about what took place in residential schools,” Ts’i:m Grand Chief Doug Kelly said.

“Our people are carrying the incredible pain that was inflicted upon them by removal from their home, from their parents, their grandparents, their families and placed in residential schools where there was no oversight to keep those children safe.”

Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre director David Schaepe and project manager Amber Kostuchenko presented findings for Stó:lō communities on Thursday morning and in the afternoon for the public.

Through archival research, the team confirmed deaths of children who either died as a direct result of their school experience or while under the care of the institution.

The research team confirmed with certainty the deaths of 96 children between the ages of five and 20 at the Coqualeetza hospital, 37 at Coqualeetza school, 20 at St. Mary’s and five at All Hallows School.

The team said many of the deaths were due to illness, with 79 dying because of tuberculosis at the Coqualeetza hospital.

Through oral historical research of St. Mary’s survivors, the team learned of cases where children were killed, as well as secretive burials of children and babies, and forced burials of children by other children.

St. Mary’s moved locations within Mission twice and through oral histories, the research found the old school to be “a place of punishment and starvation and the new school a place of pedophilia.”

“What we learned from speaking with only a handful of survivors is devastatingly traumatic and sad. Nothing less than absolutely heartbreaking,” Schaepe said.

At the old St. Mary’s school, the presentation revealed children suffered capital punishment, were exposed to diseases as a form of punishment and were subject to malnutrition and child labour. At the new school, the researchers said sexual abuse was rampant.

“We heard of terrible implications that need further work to further understand. Including a story of firemen responding to a fire at the old St. Mary’s girls’ dormitory and finding the remains of fetuses in the walls,” Schaepe said. “And as is being told in experiences at other institutions, that furnaces were used for cremation purposes.”

Schaepe says the question of who committed the atrocities remains the focus of the research team’s ongoing work.

Through geophysical data, the team confirmed the discovery of marked graves of children at the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Cemetery in Mission, situated on the edge of Fraser River Heritage Park and adjacent to the ruined foundations of the old school.

The team also confirmed the identification of anomalies representing potential unmarked burials located more broadly throughout the St. Mary’s old school grounds in examined areas.

At Coqualeetza, researchers did not identify any anomalies that could be interpreted as potential unmarked burials through phase one work. However, they did discover unmarked graves that could be associated with the hospital.

“At the Sqwá First Nation cemetery, we can confirm the identification of marked graves but without names that appear to be associated with the Coqualeetza hospital within that portion of the cemetery established for the hospital’s use,” Schaepe said.

“We can also confirm the identification of anomalies interpreted as potential unmarked burials that also appear to be associated with the Coqualeetza hospital, and the various burials of individuals who died there. We cannot confirm at this point in time whether these are adults or children.”

The geophysical search was preliminary and covered three per cent of the schools’ grounds, with more research to follow.

“It is too premature in our work and distracting to our efforts to focus on the numbers of potential unmarked burials,” Squiala First Nation Chief David Jimmie said.

The Stó:lō Nation Chiefs’ Council launched the estimated three-year project to find unmarked graves in 2021 and the Stó:lo Research and Resource Management Centre began the search at the site of the former St. Mary’s Residential School in August 2022.

The research centre used ground-penetrating radar, combined with archival research and oral testimony from those who survived to investigate potential unmarked graves and missing children related to the three former residential school sites.

The investigation came after the discovery of unmarked graves in former residential school cemeteries in Tk’emlúps (Kamloops), Penelakut Island (Kuper Island) and across Canada.

Other goals of the work included identifying Stó:lō children sent to residential schools throughout the province and country who never returned home.

The St. Mary’s Residential School was opened by Catholic missionaries in 1863 and was relocated in 1882. A new school was built in 1933 and closed in 1984.

According to the presentation, St. Mary’s was the first residential school to open in B.C. and the last to close, making it one of the longest-operating residential schools in Canada.

In 2004, a former St. Mary’s school employee was convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault in relation to his time at the school and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Coqualeetza school was opened by Methodist missionaries in 1886. It started as a day school but added a residence for boarding students the following year. A new school was built in 1889 but burned down in 1891.

The school closed in 1940 and the building became the Coqualeetza Indian Hospital. A fire destroyed nearly two-thirds of the building in 1948 and closed in 1969 after a new wing was reconstructed.

Stó:lō members of Skowkale and other First Nations subsequently took over the grounds and renovated the building.

All Hallows was operated by the Anglican Church between 1885 and 1920 and it was a segregated institution for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous girls.

According to the presentation, the Canadian government does not recognize All Hallows as a residential school due to its strict definition of residential schools and the Stó:lo Research and Resource Management Centre didn’t receive funding to do the research it completed.

Stó:lō Commemoration Ceremonies will be held at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission next weekend at the former site of the St. Mary’s Residential School on Sept. 29, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share an invitation to residential school survivors, their families and communities, community partners, neighbours and allies to witness a weaving of funeral and memorial ceremonies for the missing children and the unmarked graves and burials of the children who attended the St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission,” the Taking Care of Our Children team wrote on their website.

The National Residential School Crisis Line offers emotional support and crisis referral services for residential school survivors and their families 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

Complete Article HERE!

Retired judge visits Nunavut to hear about Inuit sexual abuse claims against priest

— The leader of a new Oblate Safeguarding Commission has begun investigating the handling of clergy abuse allegations in Nunavut.

Joannes Rivoire

By Kathleen Martens

A retired judge was in Nunavut this week to hear more about historical allegations of child sexual abuse against an Oblate Catholic priest.

André Denis, formerly of the Superior Court of Quebec, was hired by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France to lead the Oblate Safeguarding Commission and review their handling of the accusations against Joannes Rivoire.

Rivoire, who served 30 years as a missionary in Nunavut, has denied the allegations.

The Oblates say Denis has until next spring to complete his report, which is independent of their Order.

“While we have supported the process by providing him with guidelines and trying to promote awareness of the Commission, I am unable to speak in detail to his ongoing work,” Rev. Ken Thorson of OMI  Lacombe in Ottawa said in an email to APTN News.

Tanya Tungilik met with Denis in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, earlier this week, but said it wasn’t clear what he is trying to achieve.

“He asked a lot of questions,” Tungilik said in a telephone interview Thursday. “I don’t think it’s going to get anything actionable done.”

The allegations against Rivoire, who worked in three remote Arctic commnunities, have dragged on for years.

It was the 1990s when four Inuit filed complaints with the RCMP in Nunavut accusing Rivoire of sexually abusing them as children between 1963 and 1993.

Marius Tungilik (in glasses) as a young boy in Nunavut.

Tungilik’s late father, Marius Tungilik, was one of the complainants.

However, Rivoire had returned to France by the time RCMP charged him in 1998 with five counts of indecently assaulting four Inuit children, including Marius.

In 2017, the charges were stayed, citing a lack of cooperation from France, which refuses to extradite its citizens.

Rivoire is now in his 90s and living in a Catholic nursing home in Lyon.

He told APTN in an exclusive interview in June 2022 that he would not return to Canada to fight the most recent charge RCMP laid against him in 2021 after an Inuk woman came forward with a new allegation.

Undeterred, a delegation of Inuit – that included Tanya – travelled to France a few months later to seek Rivoire’s extradition.

Again, France refused.

Tanya said Denis told her he is interviewing numerous people and has obtained church records relating to Rivoire’s career as a missionary in the Arctic. This is of interest to her as she has been denied a copy of her dad’s complaint to the RCMP.

“I really want to see my dad’s statement. But they [RCMP] won’t give it to me,” she said despite filing an Access to Information request.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Jesse Tungilik (left), his sister Tanya Tungilik (centre), and Steve Mapsalak (right), speak about Catholic clergy abuse while in Paris.

Denis declined to comment on the commission when reached by APTN.

“Out of respect for the process, I have committed that I will only take part in media interviews after the report is complete,” he said.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., an Inuit advocacy and land claim association that led the delegation to France in 2022, did not respond to a request for comment on the commission.

It has urged more complainants to come forward, however, because there is no statute of limitations on sex crimes in Canada.

Complete Article HERE!