Former priest charged with sexually abusing children in Nunavut granted bail
CBC News - April 23, 2024
A former Catholic priest who worked in Nunavut and has previously been convicted of dozens of charges of sexual abuse has been granted bail to a supervised facility in Ontario while awaiting trial on new charges. Eric Dejaeger, 76, faces eight counts of historical sexual assault. He was previously convicted of 32 offences for sexually abusing people in Igloolik, many of them children. The new charges are alleged to have happened while Dejaeger was working as a priest in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982, according to court documents. He was arrested in Kingston, Ont., and taken into custody in Iqaluit in June last year.
Free Press - September 23, 2025 Somerset, MB - The Archdiocese of St. Boniface has denied a man’s claims he was sexually abused by one of its priests in rural Manitoba decades ago. The man, who’s in his late 60s, claimed in a lawsuit filed in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this year that he was sexually abused by now-deceased Catholic priest Rene Touchette in the village of Somerset, about 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. In a statement of defence filed in late July, the archdiocese argued the lawsuit should be tossed out — and that the man has provided no proof of the alleged abuse.
National Catholic Reporter - August 13, 2025 London, ON - Ontario’s Superior Court has ruled that Fr. Michael Bechard, a diocesan priest from London, Ontario, can proceed with his civil lawsuit against Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica and the Basilian Fathers of Toronto for alleged sexual abuse. The defendants had sought to have the matter handled exclusively in a Catholic canonical court, but Justice Evelyn ten Cate found that Canadian civil courts have jurisdiction and should hear the case. Bechard has also filed a separate complaint under Vos Estis Lux Mundi, Pope Francis’ 2019 rules for reporting abuse within the Church. The Diocese of London is not a party to the lawsuit and maintains its bishop acted appropriately when Bechard first reported the allegations in 2015. Justice ten Cate ruled that religious organizations are not exempt from Canadian law and rejected the argument that Bechard’s oath to canon law barred civil action. She emphasized that the Church’s canonical courts cannot award damages or impose vicarious liability, making civil proceedings necessary to ensure justice.