Sexual assault: Canada requests the extradition of Father Johannes Rivoire
The crypt of the basilica of Fourvière © Antoine Merlet
Father Johannes Rivoire, who lives in Lyon, is suspected in Canada of sexual assault on Inuit children.
Canadian Minister of Justice David Lametti confirmed on Thursday August 4 that his country was requesting the extradition of this retired French-Canadian prelate, who left Canada in 1993 and now lives in a nursing home in Croix-Rousse. In Lyon . The facts of sexual assaults on Inuit children are not believed to date back more than 30 years and have become a symbol of impunity in Canada’s North.
“I am aware of the fact that an extradition request transmitted to France has been made public, which the officials of my ministry confirm” said the minister in a letter to AFP, adding that he was “important to Canada and its international partners that serious crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted”. On the French side, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that the request was currently being processed by the Ministry of Justice.
Under arrest warrant since February
Already placed under arrest warrant between 1998 and 2017 for sexual assaults against 3 minors, without consequence, Father Johannes Rivoire has been the subject of a new arrest warrant in Canada since February. A new complaint was indeed filed in September 2021, relating to facts that would have been committed 47 years ago.
Since sexual crimes are not subject to prescription in the country, the now 92-year-old priest, who denies any guilt, could answer for them in court. Due to the dual nationality of the respondent, however, it is not certain that French justice will grant the extradition request.
The case resurfaces when Pope Francis has just returned from a trip to Canada, the purpose of which was precisely to ask forgiveness from the indigenous peoples for the numerous abuses caused to the children of these populations. Between the end of the 19th century and the 1990s, 150,000 young indigenous people were forcibly enrolled in 130 boarding schools run mainly by the Church, and up to 6,000 died there. A delegation of Inuits has planned to come to Lyon in September to ask in turn for the extradition of the cleric.