NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq holds a photo of Fr. Johannes Rivoire, who is wanted in Canada for abusing children in Nunavut but now resides in France, as she speaks at a news conference calling on Minister of Justice David Lametti to investigate crimes against Indigenous people in Canada at residential schools, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on July 8, 2021.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Nunavut’s member of Parliament is calling on the federal government to appoint a special prosecutor to delve into crimes committed against Indigenous people.
Mumilaaq Qaqqaq says perpetrators of abuse at institutions such as residential schools and tuberculosis sanatoria need to be brought to justice.
Qaqqaq points to the example of Johannes Rivoire, an Oblate priest accused of sexual abuse against Inuit children in several Nunavut communities.
She says it’s unacceptable he’s been able to live in retirement in France without facing trial.
She says the federal government has a trove of documents that would shed light on what happened in those institutions that a prosecutor would be able to reveal.
Qaqqaq, who has announced she won’t seek re-election, says crimes committed against Inuit children continue to echo through Nunavut communities.
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