Fugitive Canadian priest still free in Belgium

Canada hasn'tformally asked Belgium to extradite a Roman Catholic priest back to Nunavut, where he is wanted for alleged sex crimes against children dating back to the late-1970s, CBC News has learned.

Belgian officials say Canada has yet to file a formal extradition request for Rev. Eric Dejaeger, a Canadianwho resurfaced in September after havinglived in Belgium for the past 15 years.

Dejaeger, 63, is on Interpol's list of wanted fugitives for "crimes against children," based on anarrest warrant issued by the Nunavut Court of Justice in 2002.

He is wanted on six charges three counts of indecent assault on a male and three counts of buggery related to alleged incidents between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik, a remote Arctic community in what is now Nunavut.

"At this moment, we haven't received a formal extradition request from the Canadian government," Bart Ouvry, a spokesman with Belgium's Foreign Affairs Ministry, told CBC News on Wednesday from Brussels.

Talks in progress

However, Ouvry said both countries are in informal discussions about Dejaeger's possible return to Canada.

"Contacts are ongoing on the possibility of such an extradition request," he said, noting that Dejaeger's case is "relatively complicated."

"We had the question of nationality, whether he was a Belgian national or not. We now have established that he is not a national. And of course, some of the cases on which an extradition request is based are not very recent,"Ouvry explained.

"Taking into regard those two factors, I think it's normal that we take some time."

Canadian justice officials have refused to discuss Dejaeger's case to date, saying extradition requests are confidential matters.

In September, Dejaeger contacted Belgian justice authorities and was questioned by police in the city of Leuven.

But because he was not wanted on any charges in Belgium, and because there was no standing extradition request from Canada, the Belgian authorities released him.

"He appears to be in Belgium, but there are no grounds at this stage for him to be in custody in Belgium," Ouvry said.

Previously convicted

Days after Dejaeger was released, Nunavut RCMP said Canadian and Belgian justice officials, along with Crown prosecutors in Iqaluit, are aiming extradite him.

Dejaeger was convicted in 1990 of multiple sex crimes against children in Baker Lake, another Nunavut community, between 1982 and 1989. He was sentenced to five years in prison, butwas released early.

Dejaeger fled Canada in 1995 when new charges surfaced against him, according to an investigation by the Belgian newspaper DeMorgen.

Around the time that Dejaeger was released in September, Belgium's Foreign Affairs Ministry publicly stated that the priest, who was born in that country, no longer had Belgian citizenship because he became a Canadian citizen in 1977.

The Belgian ministry also said Dejaeger did not inform authorities there that he had become a Canadian citizen, adding that he gave "false information about his nationality" to Belgian consular officials in Canada.