Review of priest accused of sex assaults in Nunavut finds Oblates were unaware

An independent review of a priest accused of sexually abusing Inuit children in Nunavut says his Catholic order wasn’t aware of the allegations when he returned to France.

Retired Superior Court justice André Denis led the review into 93-year-old Johannes Rivoire.

Denis found the Oblates of Mary Immaculate didn’t know Rivoire was being investigated by Canadian police when he arrived in France in 1993, and the religious order was not contacted by RCMP when charges were laid five years later.

The review says the Oblates in France learned of the charges through a news report in 2013.

“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 says in his final report released Tuesday.

Rivoire refused to return to Canada after an arrest warrant was issued 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.

Another arrest warrant was issued for Rivoire in 2022 for a charge of indecent assault involving a girl in Arviat and Whale Cove between 1974 and 1979. French authorities denied an extradition request.

Inuit leaders and politicians urged the priest to face trial, and there was mounting pressure on the religious order to provide answers. Last year, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France appointed Denis to lead the review.

Denis was also asked by the Archdiocese of Montreal in 2020 to review allegations of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults in nine Quebec Catholic dioceses. And Pope Francis tasked Denis earlier this month with investigating allegations against a senior leader of the province’s Roman Catholic Church.

Denis says his findings on Rivoire do not serve as a substitute for a trial. However, based on the “preponderance of evidence,” the review supports allegations that Rivoire assaulted six children in Nunavut.