WARNING: This story contains graphic details of child sexual assault that may be disturbing for some readers
A former Catholic priest’s sex assaults on Inuit children decades ago in Nunavut transformed a once friendly and trusting hamlet of Igloolik into a place marred by anger and addiction, court heard Thursday.
Wails and shouts could be heard in the Iqaluit courtroom where Eric Dejaeger pleaded guilty to indecent assaults against six girls and one boy between 1978 and 1982. He’d previously been convicted of dozens of offences against children and some adults.
A woman, whose relatives were abused by Dejaeger and was in court to offer support, read a victim impact statement describing the harm done to the tight-knit community.
“I grew up in Igloolik, in a beautiful environment (where) everybody knows everybody, greeting each other with smiles and laughter. There was much respect for each other in that community,” she said.
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“Today, that environment is gone …