Fugitive priest arrives in Iqaluit

A Roman Catholic priest accused of sex crimes against children in Nunavut has arrived in Iqaluit following a stopover in Montreal from Belgium.

Rev. Eric Dejaeger, 63,who is a Canadian citizen, arrived on an Air Canada Jazzflight at 1 p.m. ET Thursday.

RCMP officers accompaniedhim from the plane into a police truck that took him to thelocal courthouse for a hearing with a justice of the peace.

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

Bail hearing on Monday

Dejaeger faces three counts of indecent assault on a male and three counts of buggery,in relationto alleged incidents between 1978 and 1982 in Igloolik, where he had served as a missionary.

His lawyer, Mandy Sammurtok, told the court on Thursday that her client did not want to enter the courtroom. But after some discussion with the Crown, Dejaeger was ordered to appear.

Dejaeger, who did not speak in court, sported a white beard and looked older than he appeared in photographs Interpol had posted on its list of wanted fugitives. He was not wearing shoes.

Sammurtok asked that the case be adjourned until Monday, when a bail hearing will take place. Dejaeger remains in custody in Iqaluit in the meantime.

"We're very glad that this case has finally come back to Nunavut, and that we'll be able to provide closure to both our investigators and the people in Igloolik that were the victims of his crimes," Nunavut RCMP Supt. Howard Eaton told reporters at the Iqaluit detachment.

Fled to Belgium

Dejaegerpleaded 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 Igloolikcharges wereissued in 2002, Dejaeger was living freely in Belgium, his country of birth.

According to Belgian media,Dejaegerwas 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 this month for 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.

Dejaeger was put on a plane from Brussels to Montreal on Wednesday.