CNews (canoe.ca)
19 January 2011
By QMI Agency
A Canadian priest accused of sex crimes against Inuit children is expected to be returned to Canada from Belgium on Wednesday.
Belgian officials have told local media Rev. Eric Dejaeger is scheduled to board a plane bound for Montreal on Wednesday.
Dejaeger, 63, is accused of abusing children in Igloolik, a remote Nunavut settlement, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Igloolik authorities and Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Dejaeger in 2002 for “crimes against children.”
The Belgium native holds a Canadian citizenship. He was arrested in Bruges earlier this month and slated for extradition to Canada on immigration violations, after living in the country for years without a proper visa.
Dejaeger was previously sentenced in 1990 to five years in jail in Canada for abusing eight children while working as an Arctic missionary for the Catholic Church.
But Dejaeger then never showed up for a 1995 court date connected to the six other counts of indecent assault and buggery in Igloolik and it was determined he had fled to Belgium. Another warrant connected to those charges was issued in 2002.
Nunavut RCMP issued a statement that Dejaeger will be taken into custody on his arrival in Canada and transported to Iqaluit where a court date will be set.
Canadian officials are not confirming the time and place of Dejaeger’s arrival – citing security reasons.