Dejaeger facing charges stemming from mid-1970s in Alberta, applied to be moved to Iqaluit court
Posted: Jun 17, 2015 6:16 AM CTLast Updated: Jun 17, 2015 6:16 AM CT
By Nick Murray,
Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger leaves an Iqaluit, Nunavut, courtroom on Jan. 20, 2011 after his first appearance for six child sexual abuse charges in Igloolik dating back to the 1970s. Dejaeger, who was sentenced to 19 years, was back in Iqaluit court Tuesday for an update on three outstanding sex charges that date back to his time in an Alberta college in the mid-1970s. (Chris Windeyer/The Canadian Press)
Former Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger, who is serving time for sexually abusing children in Igloolik, was in an Iqaluit courtroom yesterday expecting to hear an update on whether his outstanding charges from Alberta will be heard in Nunavut.
Instead, Dejaeger will return Thursday morning because his lawyer didn’t call in to the court in time due to a misunderstanding.
Dejaeger, who in February was convicted of 24 sex-related charges involving children more than 30 years ago, had applied to have his three outstanding Alberta-based sex-related charges heard in the Nunavut Court of Justice.
The charges stem from a period in the mid-1970s, when he was studying at the Newman Theological College in Edmonton.
The 68-year-old Dejaeger appeared wearing the standard-issue navy blue sweats from the Baffin Correctional Centre, where he’s serving a 19-year sentence. He wore a pair of glasses with brown frames, and his white beard had become long and puffy.
The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench agreed to move the charges to Nunavut several months ago, but it takes quite some time to move the files over.
Yesterday, in an Iqaluit courtroom, Crown prosecutor Barry McLaren said the files still haven’t arrived.
“We’ve been hoping that they would come up, but we knew they were not likely to be here,” McLaren said.
Tuesday’s hearing was put over so Dejaeger’s lawyer, Malcolm Kempt, could be present by phone. McLaren expects they’ll likely set the hearing over until after the beginning of September.
This is getting beyond ridiculous….
How long does it take to fly a package from Edmonton to Iqaluit?
Those poor dear souls in Edmonton. They came forward in December 2011. Now it’s one adjournment after the other after the other, presumably awaiting the plea-bargained guilty plea to their charges.
Dejeager I am sure is happy as a lark. As long as this legal travesty continues to play out he stays at the Baffin Correctional Centre in Iqualuit and hence avoids time behind bars in a federal institution.
It’s looking as though Dejaeger’s Edmonton Alberta victims may have to wait until September to see justice done.
September 2015. Those charges were laid November 2011.
That’s nearly four full years.
Please keep those Edmonton victims and their families in your prayers.
I am not sure BCC is such a treat but nonetheless the years of delay is absurd. Kempt has relocated to southern Canada and therefore needs to be online for call versus being there in person. With Kempt still on board, it also means that the Oblates are still funding EDJ’s legal bills, does it not?
Thank you, CBC North, for your continued coverage of this important story.
I agree that BCC is probably no treat, but I was thinking that think perhaps that as a child molester he would prefer to be there than in a federal institution.
As for whose funding, you’re’ probably right. It’s probably the Oblates.
So he is pleading guilty to the Alberta charges. Hope the victims still are provided an opportunity to give an impact statement in an Iqaluit court, should they wish to do so. Sylvia, please give them my contact information, should they travel via Yellowknife to do so.