An early photo of Eric Dejaeger when he was a Catholic priest in Nunavut. Photo: APTN file
Warning: This story describes violent attacks against children. Please read with care.
A defrocked Catholic priest should never be released into society again, says a woman he victimized four decades ago.
Eric Dejaeger, a former Belgium national, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Twila (who preferred only her first name be used) in the 1970s.
“I was four, five and six years old,” says the First Nations woman of the assaults that occurred over several years.
“The threats he used on me are the same he used on those Inuit children.”
Dejaeger pleaded guilty to indecent assaults against six girls and one boy between 1978 and 1982 in Iqaluit Thursday as wails and shouts could be heard in the courtroom.
He has already served time in Canada for sexually abusing more than 60 children, adults and dogs during his career in Alberta and Nunavut as an Oblate missionary.
His latest guilty pleas cover charges laid in Igloolik, a once friendly and trusting hamlet now marred by anger and addiction, court heard Thursday. He is expected back in court Friday.
“Ugh, it’s sickening,” said Twila in a telephone interview, while expressing sympathy and support for the victims in Nunavut.
“He is a dangerous predator. He’ll never change.”
A woman, whose relatives were abused by Dejaeger, read a victim impact statement describing the harm done to the tight-knit community.
“I grew up in Igloolik, in a beautiful environment (where) everybody knows everybody, greeting each other with smiles and laughter. There was much respect for each other in that community,” she said.
“Today, that environment is gone … The once happy community is now filled with anger, disrespect, abuse and mental illness.”
She called Dejaeger a “sick monster.”
“I am not going to tell you to rot in hell, but I hope they throw you in a small room with vicious husky dogs and they rip you up alive.”
Prosecutor Emma Baasch described each of the assaults in graphic detail in the Nunavut Court of Justice. Baasch spoke of horrific sex acts. Children were as young as four when the abuse began, she said. One complainant described blacking out from the pain.
In some cases, it began with the priest offering the children candy. Court heard Dejaeger gave a picture to a girl to colour before taking her on his lap and assaulting her. It was of Jesus giving someone a flower.
Of one victim, the prosecutor said, “Mr. Dejaeger told her she would go to hell if she said anything.”
Baasch said Dejaeger told another girl “that Jesus would not accept her anymore” if she told anyone what happened.
A woman who said the abuse started when she was six years old said she would urinate on herself to protect herself. The more it smelled, the safer she felt.
“I would let it dry and do the same thing all over again. I refused to change my underwear and my pants,” she said. “I wanted revenge for the little girl he hurt. I wanted revenge because the little girl was scared. I don’t want revenge anymore.
“I’m 51 years old and I’m not a little girl anymore and I’m not scared anymore.”
The court-appointed lawyer for Dejaeger, Scott Cowan, declined to comment to APTN Thursday.
Ken Thorson, a spokesperson for English-speaking Oblates in Canada, called clergy abuse a tragedy and apologized to victims.
“Dejaeger has been convicted of previous offences and was subsequently dismissed from the priesthood,” Thorson said in a statement emailed to APTN.
“While we recognize that today’s judgment cannot undo the harm caused, we sincerely hope that this process provides some measure of justice and accountability for the victims.”
But Belgium human rights activist Lieve Halsberghe, who has been involved in bringing Dejaeger to justice, dismissed Thorson’s sentiments.
“The real criminals are not in court,” she said by phone. “And you know who they are. The whole damn religious order of the Oblates. That is my opinion.
“They are guilty of unending cruelty by covering up, hiding these bastards.”
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Halsberghe says the Oblates continue to recruit and staff missionary postings around the world while assuring people and communities they serve that all is well.
“They should be held accountable,” she said.
Thorson told APTN the Oblates have stepped up their vetting of missionary candidates.
“Today, candidates undergo comprehensive psychological assessments to identify emotional, behavioral, and sexual maturity issues, including their capacity for healthy boundaries,” he said in an emailed statement. “Multiple interviews are conducted by vocation directors, seminary staff, and other assessors, including lay women and men, to evaluate candidates’ character and suitability.
“Mandatory criminal background checks are conducted for all people (laity and clergy) working in the church today, along with searches for prior allegations of misconduct. Additionally, safeguarding training is mandatory for volunteers and employees (laity and current clergy) who will be working with children and vulnerable adults.”
Some delivering victim impact statements spoke of how they will no longer set foot in a Catholic church or let their children do so.
“I don’t like to go to church anymore, even if it’s a special occasion,” one woman said in her victim impact statement.
“I hate seeing new priests come to our community. I hate the smell of the incense that the Catholic church uses.”
She said she recently found her birth certificate and that she planned to burn it because she thinks Dejaeger may have baptized her.
“I will now check and burn it, even if Eric’s name isn’t on it because it comes from the Catholic church.”
A picture of that woman when she was five years old was presented to the court as an exhibit, and pained wailing could be heard in the video conference of the court proceedings.
“Look! I hope you recognize her,” a woman could be heard shouting. “She’s innocent. How would you touch a five-year-old?”
Some women described feeling uneasy receiving physical affection from boyfriends or husbands and using drugs and alcohol to ease the pain. They also said they’re afraid of dogs because Dejaeger had one.
Healed now
Twila says she has healed now and is strong, despite Dejaeger only pleading guilty to two of five charges against her.
“His threats – what they’re saying – are some of the threats he used against me when I was a little girl,” she said.
“I feel so bad for those people that are going through this because it’s hell. It’s pure hell on the brain.”
She encouraged Inuit victims to file a class-action lawsuit against the Catholic church as she did.
“[Sue] him and that church because they were fully responsible for him,” she said. “My lawyer did a terrific job for me.
“When my suit was done I put him on the back burner and never looked back.”
RCMP announced in June 2023 that Dejaeger had been arrested on a Canada-wide warrant in Kingston, Ont., where he had been living. They said the charges stemmed from investigations conducted between 2011 and 2015.
He was previously convicted of committing numerous sexual offences while working as an Oblate missionary.
Dejaeger served part of a five-year sentence, beginning in 1990, for sexual crimes against children in Baker Lake, Nunavut, committed between 1982 and 1989.
In 2015, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for 32 crimes against Inuit children and some adults between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik. The offences included indecent assault, unlawful confinement and bestiality.
Later that year, he was also sentenced for historical sexual offences against children in Alberta, to be served concurrently with his sentence for the earlier Igloolik charges.
He was given statutory release on May 19, 2022, after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
-with files from The Canadian Press
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