A French priest accused of sexually assaulting children in the Canadian Arctic has died

TORONTO – Joannes Rivoire, a French priest who was accused of sexually abusing Inuit children while serving on a mission in the Canadian Arctic community, has died after a long illness, authorities said Friday.

The Oblates of Lacombe, Canada and the Oblate Province of France, said Rivoire, who was 90, died on Thursday. He lived for years in a nursing home in Lyon, France.

An Inuit community in northern Canada has long sought the Vatican’s help in obtaining Rivoire’s extradition. He ministered to Inuit communities until leaving in the 1990s and returning to France. Canadian authorities issued an arrest warrant for him in 1998 due to multiple sexual abuse allegations.

The Rev. Ken Thorson, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Lacombe Canada, said in an email that the death could be difficult news for those who advocated for the priest to face justice in Canada.

“We sincerely regret this,” Thorson wrote. “Rivoire never made himself available and will never face the accusations made against him. We further regret that efforts to have him formally removed as priest were unsuccessful.”

Rivoire arrived in Canada in 1959. He remained in the North until January 1993, when he told superiors he needed to return to France to care for his aging parents.

That same month, four people went to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in the northern territory of Nunavut, to accuse Rivoire of sexual assaults.

An arrest warrant was issued in 1998 for Rivoire to return to Canada to face at least three charges of sexual abuse. The charges were not pursued.

Another arrest warrant was issued for Rivoire in 2022 on charges of indecent assault involving a girl between 1974 and 1979. French authorities refused an extradition request.

Rivoire denied all allegations against him and none were proven in court.

Oblates in Canada and France repeatedly urged Rivoire to face the charges, but he refused.

In September 2022, a 10-member Inuit delegation traveled to Lyon, hoping to persuade Rivoire to return with them to Canada to face justice. But the Oblate priest refused and denied any wrongdoing.