Sexual assault in Canada: France rejects Father Rivoire's extradition request

'Nunavut Tunngavik' president Aluki Kotierk (2nd l), the daughter of a victim, Tanya Tungilikand (2nd d) and the other members of the Inuit delegation are greeted by Father Vincent Gruber (l) at the Oblates of Mary Immaculate” (The religious congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate) in Lyon, September 14, 2022. Members of the Inuit delegation came to France to request the extradition of the French-Canadian priest Joannes Rivoire, accused of alleged child sexual abuse.

AFP - JEFF PACHOUD

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France on Wednesday (October 26th) rejected the request for extradition to Canada of Father Rivoire, this 92-year-old French-Canadian priest accused of sexual assaults on young Inuit in the 1970s. Ottawa says it is exploring other avenues to achieve upon his arrest.

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Father Rivoire will not be extradited.

It was Canada which made public the decision of the French courts on Wednesday and explained the reasons for its refusal.

First, French law prohibits the extradition of its own citizens;

however, the priest did indeed have French nationality at the time of the alleged attacks.

Second reason: too much time elapsed between the events and the filing of the charges.

In other words, the facts are prescribed. 

A point which also prevents any prosecution against Father Rivoire in France, underlines the press release.

It was last February that the priest was accused and targeted by an arrest warrant for having sexually assaulted a child between 1974 and 1979.

The former missionary in the Canadian Far North, who had already been the subject of a first arrest warrant between 1998 and 2017 for sexual assaults against three minors, has always denied these allegations.

All remedies for France to extradite or prosecute the priest are therefore now exhausted. 

But Ottawa says it is exploring other avenues to lead to his arrest, in particular by asking Interpol to issue a wanted notice that could allow him to be arrested in another country.

Despite the fact that the religious is now 92 years old and lives in a retirement home in Lyon, the Canadian authorities affirm that " 

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