Defrocked Arctic priest Erik Dejaeger loses appeal of sex abuse convictions

IQALUIT, Nunavut — A defrocked Arctic priest jailed for abusing dozens of Inuit children has lost an appeal of his convictions and sentence.

Erik Dejaeger, 71, will continue to serve his 19-year term for crimes committed in the Nunavut community of Igloolik 40 years ago.

Dejaeger was convicted on 24 sex-related counts and pleaded guilty to another eight in a 2014 trial.

The former Oblate priest had argued that the trial judge did a poor job of assessing his testimony and that of his accusers. He also tried to persuade the court that his sentence should have been lighter in view of the prison time he had previously served for sex-related crimes committed in Baker Lake, Nunavut.

The Nunavut Court of Appeal dismissed those arguments late last week.

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It also dismissed Dejaeger’s contention that his sentence should be reduced for good behaviour. The court noted that Dejaeger had fled Canada after being charged with the Igloolik assaults and was illegally abroad in Oblate facilities in Belgium and France for 17 years.

He only returned to Canada after Belgium deported him for immigration violations.

Dejaeger’s trial stirred up long-buried memories in his victims, and testimony in court was often searingly emotional.

His crimes, committed between 1978 and 1982, included indecent assault, unlawful confinement, buggery, unlawful sexual intercourse and bestiality with a dog.

The victims included 12 boys and 10 girls. Most were between eight and 12, although court heard they could have been as young as four and as old as 18.

Many testified at the trial that Dejaeger trapped them into sex by threatening them with hellfire or separation from their families if they told. Sometimes he dangled food in front of hungry children as a lure.

During victim impact statements, witnesses described permanent mental and physical scars.

One man said that the smell of moldy wood still took him back to the mission’s boiler room where Dejaeger raped him. A woman told court she blamed Dejaeger for the scars diagnosed on her womb.

Many spoke of lingering anger and depression and of attempts to escape those feelings through alcohol and drugs.

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton. Follow @row1960 on Twitter.

The Canadian Press