Priest faces more sex charges in Nunavut

Three new charges have been filed againstEric Dejaeger, a Roman Catholic priest accused of sex crimes against children in Nunavut who had until recently been a fugitive in Belgium.

Eric Dejaeger, 63, faces two new counts of indecent assault that are alleged to have occurred whenhe was working in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982.

He already faced six other sex-related charges three counts of indecent assault, three counts of buggery alleged to have occurred in Igloolik at the same time.

Athird new charge, failure to appear in court, dates from 1995, when Dejaeger fled to Belgium.

A sombre looking Dejaeger appeared in Iqaluit courtMonday afternoon for a bail hearing.

The Crown prosecutors and defence both asked for an adjournment. SinceDejaeger returned to Nunavut onThursday he has been represented by a public defender, but the court heard Monday that he is seeking a new lawyer to represent him.

Fled to Belgium

Dejaeger was put on Interpol's list of wanted fugitives when the Nunavut Court of Justice issued an arrest warrant in 2002 on six charges involving children in Igloolik, a remote Inuit community in the territory.

Dejaeger pleaded guilty in 1990 to nine counts of sex crimes against boys and girls in Baker Lake, another community in Nunavut, and was sentenced to five years in prison.

But by the time the Igloolik charges were issued in 2002, Dejaeger was living in Belgium, his country of birth.

According to Belgian media, Dejaeger, a Canadian citizen,was living in an Oblate monastery and worked in the Catholic pilgrimage site of Lourdes, France, where he received Flemish pilgrims.

Belgian authorities detained Dejaeger earlier in Januaryfor overstaying his legal residency in that country. According to government officials there, the priest gave up his Belgian citizenship when he became a Canadian citizen in 1977.