CANADA
Metro
By: Bob Weber The Canadian Press Published on Thu Dec 22 2016
Piita Irniq, one of a generation of Inuit leaders who took his people from igloos to iPhones, has seen and accomplished much, but one loose end haunts him.
It’s the lonely search for justice for his friend, who died young after a lifetime of pain from the child sexual abuse he told Irniq was inflicted by a missionary Arctic priest.
Why, Irniq asks, does the man his friend named as his abuser remain safely overseas? And why has Canada, bent on reconciliation with indigenous people, failed to get the priest back despite an active 18-year-old arrest warrant for him?
“Maybe I want to see a wrong righted,” says Irniq, his lively smile suddenly shadowed.
“Maybe I’m a little bit angry.”
Irniq, 69, was born in Repulse Bay, N.W.T., now Naujaat, Nunavut. So, a few years later, was Marius Tungilik.
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