WARNING: This article discusses sexual violence.
The mandatory release of a dishonored priest who sexually abuses children in Iglulik, Nunavut, has received a sharp response from the Federal Minister for Crown Relations and Indigenous Peoples.
On Thursday, Minister Mark Miller told reporters that he believed that people like Eric Dejager “should rot in prison”.
Dejaguer, now 75, was convicted in 2015 of 32 counts of sexual assault on people in Iglulik, many of them children.
He was released in mid-May to serve the remainder of his sentence in the community on several conditions. Legal release is offered to most prisoners after they have spent two-thirds of their time, but the Canada Early Release Council may refuse release if it believes the offender is likely to commit crimes, including child sexual abuse.
“In a democracy like ours, it’s really good that people like me don’t decide people’s lives and deaths,” Miller said, adding that he didn’t think Dejaeger had spent enough time in prison for his crimes.
“You have to trust the system, which is one of the best in the world, but to hear these things is deeply disturbing and my heart is focused on the survivors and those who have been hurt by this man.
In Dejaeger’s case, the parole board said he continued to deny responsibility for many of his crimes and, although he took on programs while in prison, “has achieved limited measurable and noticeable benefits in dealing with [his] risk. “
If he could live where he wanted – with the Oblates of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic missionary group – instead of halfway home, the board concluded that he would pose an “unjustified risk” of recidivism.
Documents from the early release council edit the location of the house halfway where he will live, in which he must return every night.
Justice Minister David Lametti said he was repeating Miller’s comments and hoped the damage done by Dejaeger would be taken into account when he was released.
“Continuing emotional and psychological injuries”
The decision of the Conditional Release Council of Canada acknowledges that Dejager was “in a state of great confidence” in his victims, which he used to prepare and silence them.
“You also used physical violence and caused serious physical injuries to some of the victims. The victims suffered devastating and continuing emotional and psychological injuries, “the board said.
Degager, who was born in Belgium, became a Canadian citizen in 1977 and went to Nunavut as a priest of the oblates.
Prior to being tried for the Iglulik crimes, Dejaeger was serving part of a five-year sentence for sex charges stemming from service at Lake Baker between 1982 and 1989.
After his release in 1991, Dejaeger learned that the RCMP was investigating his activities in Iglulik. He fled to Belgium before being tried on these charges.
He was expelled from Belgium in 2011 for immigration violations and returned to Canada.
In 2015, Dejaeger was sentenced to 19 years in prison for crimes he committed between 1978 and 1982. Because of the time he spent in custody before the trial, he had 11 years left after being convicted.
The 32 crimes he was convicted of ranged from indecent assault to sexual assault and atrocity. Most of his victims are between the ages of eight and 12.
The details were so appalling that the judge’s verdict came with a content warning.
Later in 2015, he was also convicted of sexually abusing children in Alberta.
Following Dejaeger’s release, Father Ken Thorson of Mary Immaculate’s Oblates told the CBC that Oblates condemned Dejaeger’s “horrific” actions.
He apologized to the victims of Dejaeger and their families.
“Sexual violence by the clergy is a tragedy and we deeply regret all the survivors who were injured by Eric or other oblates or Catholic priests,” he wrote.
Once Dejaeger stays in the house halfway, he can move to the Oblates community, where the Oblates will keep a close eye on him and limit his contact with minors.
Any such plan will require approval from Canada’s Parole Board, Thorson said.
“We take very seriously our responsibility to protect vulnerable people in the community from doomed areas,” he said.
Thorson said they had contacted the Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK) about the release of Dejaeger.
In an email, ITK said it “continues to advocate for the full force of the judiciary to be brought against those who commit crimes against the most vulnerable in our society”, including priests who have evaded justice.
“There is no measure of justice to erase the pain caused by their actions,” the statement said. “The system is imperfect and we continue to work to advance measures to improve the way Inuit interact with the federal justice system.
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