Igloolik priest leaves after being threatened

By CBC News
29-3-2011

The Catholic priest in Igloolik, Nunavut, has left the community after he was recently threatened, while many residents are dealing with anger they feel towards the church for alleged past abuses.

The sudden departure of Rev. Tony Krotki came after residents of Igloolik, a remote hamlet of about 1,500 in the eastern Arctic, learned that Eric Dejaeger, the community's former priest, had been brought back to Canada to face decades-old sexual abuse allegations.

Acting Mayor Paul Quassa said Krotki received a threat sometime in the past month, after Dejaeger had been taken into custody in Iqaluit on multiple charges of indecent assault, buggery and other offences. A number of individuals in Igloolik claim that Dejaeger, now 63, sexually abused them as children between 1978 and 1982, when he was serving as the community's Catholic priest. He currently faces a total of 20 criminal charges.

Dejaeger had fled to Belgium after he served a jail term in Canada for sex crimes against children in another Nunavut community, Baker Lake. He left Canada around the time that the Igloolik charges were first filed in 1995.

But earlier this year, Belgian immigration officials declared that Dejaeger had overstayed his legal residency in that country. He was brought back to Canada in January and remains in custody in Iqaluit.

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