Canada a Haven for War Criminals

"A few stakeholders were concerned that the release of the report would result in new legal action [criminal prosecution, citizen revocation, or otherwise] being brought against the individuals named in the report." 

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) report summary

"[Library and Archives Canada had received three requests under the Access to Information law for the Deschenes document and as a result] undertook targeted consultations with external stakeholders."

"As of today LAC is still refining and concluding its analysis to respond to the Access to Information requests received."

LAC spokesperson Richard Provencher

"We know many survivors that feel very strongly about this issue and would have wanted the opportunity to speak."

"Why were they not included? Do they not have a right to be heard on questions related to the investigations against Canadians who may have been involved in committing acts of genocide against their families?"

"The idea that Canadians should be worried about the embarrassment or privacy of war criminals is obscene. We know that individuals involved in implementing the genocide of six million Jews during the Holocaust have been living peacefully in Canada for decades and it is well past time that all the facts come to light."

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, Toronto

Screenshot from a 1987 news report by CTV News—based on the information that was public at the time.

 

"In view of the large numbers of people involved in the perpetration of war crimes who merged with the DP [post-war 'displaced persons'] and general immigration stream; in view of the inadequacy of the screening performed by international agencies and Canadian officials during the postwar years; and in view of the Canadian government’s policy of ethnic immigration and of concentration… on weeding out Communists, it would be rash to assume that significant numbers of war criminals and Nazi collaborators did not enter Canada."

Historian Alti Rodal

Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler inspects volunteers of the Ukrainian Waffen SS division during the Second World War. Library and Archives Canada is now reviewing whether to release the names of alleged Nazi war criminals who fled to Canada after the war. Photo by Archive photo

The 1986 war crimes commission headed by Justice Jules Deschenes was tasked to look into the issue of the presence of Nazi war criminals living in Canada. People who fought with and acted for the Fascist Nazi Third Reich. Canada, of course, has rules and regulations on admitting foreigners into Canada as immigrants or refugees; they are inadmissible if they have a criminal record, and particularly a link of any kind with a national military involved in war crimes. 

 

Despite which it has been known since the end of World War II that many war criminals entered Canada and lived there freely. There were 900 names on a list of war criminals living in Canada, compiled for inclusion with the Deschenes Report.

The report, named the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, commissioned by the government of Brian Mulroney long after the conclusion of the war -- the only prime minister who could be persuaded to look into the issue -- clarified the issue, yet its contents were never revealed, and it was shelved for decades. Alternately called the Deschenes report, it compiled a list of 900 names of war criminals living in Canada. 

 

Finally the government of the day released a 618-page report in February written by historian Alti Rodal which investigated how Nazi war criminals entered Canada after the Second World War.

 

Now, it seems that in June and July, Library and Archives Canada undertook consultations with "discrete groups of individuals or organizations" on whether the list of names should be made public. Members of Canada's Ukrainian community were among those consulted, and it was from among members of the Ukrainian community that Nazi collaborators during the war years found their way to Canada, entering with no trouble at all. 

 

Notably, those most affected by the Nazi years in power, victims of the Holocaust and Jewish-Canadian groups were not made aware of the consultations, not invited to participate; their vested-by experience interest completely ignored.

Those who were consulted expressed grave reservations over the prospect of the information contained being made public knowledge; arguing against releasing any of the information. Warning that to do so would be embarrassing in its revelations, or might lead to prosecutions of those alleged to have been war criminals. In other words, naming those who are considered to have been war criminals could unobligingly lead to their past catching up to the present with consequent criminal charges. Not to be conceived....

Prior to the consultations, Library and Archives Canada had thought to release information to the public at some time between September 16 and September 20. Unknown is the number of names that might be released to the public. LAC withheld to the present specific details on the individuals involved and organizations that had been consulted on the issue. As to why Holocaust survivors were excluded from the discussions remained unanswered. Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies had not been advised nor invited to the advisory meeting.

In February 2023, B'nai Brith advocacy group pointed out to a House of Commons committee on Access to Information that the Canadian government's attitude toward Nazi collaborators had been marked with the "intentional harbouring of known Nazi war criminals", along with "deliberate inaction". That was the year that an invitation went out to a Ukrainian veteran, Yaroslav Hunka, to appear in the House of Commons during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hunka, 98, a former member of the Waffen SS was given a standing ovation by parliamentarians.

 

Canada’s parliament applauds Yaroslav Hunka, a former member of the Waffen-SS. Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre is on the far left.

 

None thought for a moment that they were applauding a Nazi collaborator, but they were, and they did. From parliamentarians to Canadian military members, all lauded a Nazi collaborator, not instinctively realizing that anyone who fought against the Soviets for Germany after 1941 was part of the Axis, their units like Hunka's division, the 14th SS Galicians, had sworn allegiance to Germany and Hitler, and taken part in the extermination of Jews and Poles. And Canadians responded writing angry notes to the government, to the prime minister pointing out the gross stupidity of hailing Hunka as a war hero.

Yaroslav Hunka (front center) among Nazi Waffen-SS Galicia Division troops. [Photo: Ivan Katchanovski/Twitter or X]

"Canada has a really dark history with Nazis in Canada."

"There was a point in our history where it was easier to get in as a Nazi than it was as a Jewish person."

"I think that's a history we have to reconcile."

"Those who suffered under Nazi Germany and their descendants want transparency when it comes to this shameful chapter in our history. This is what led to the creation of the Deschênes Commission almost 40 years ago, and why we took this step to make the vast majority of the Rodal Report publicly available. More can and should be done to provide transparency."

Canadian Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller