A list of Nazi war criminals who fled to Canada after the Second World War is facing increasing pressure to be kept from the public, as some bureaucrats feel it would be embarrassing for the country, despite the list including around 900 names.
Ottawa-based Library and Archives Canada held consultations with unnamed members of Canada’s Ukrainian community and a “discrete group of individuals or organizations” regarding whether the names should be made public, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.
Some of those present in the consultation claimed that releasing the information would be embarrassing and could lead to the alleged war criminals being prosecuted.
“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,” read the documents.
However, among those who weren’t consulted were Holocaust survivors and scholars, the ones who had initially advocated for a full release of the list of alleged Nazi war criminals.
Canada’s oldest Human Rights organization B’nai Brith took issue with LAC’s decision to withhold such information, seeing it as further “sheltering suspected Nazi war criminals from prosecution.”
“B’nai Brith has and will continue to advocate for all the available information related to allegations of Nazi war criminals entering Canada to be released to the public,” Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith told True North.
“Canadian Jewry have a right to know how their own government was complicit in the sheltering of suspected Nazi war criminals from potential prosecution. The concerns raised during the LAC’s consultations do not mitigate the need for a full and expedient disclosure.”
According to the documents obtained, the stakeholders advised LAC not to release the list, fearing it would embarrass Canada’s Ukrainian community as large cohorts of Ukrainian Waffen SS soldiers fled to Canada following the Second World War.
Additionally. stakeholders cited worries that such information could be repurposed for Russian propaganda.
LAC had initially hoped to release the information to the public later this month, however, what now will be available to the public currently remains unknown.
The list was part of the war crimes commission led by Justice Jules Deshcenes in 1986 and the names were compiled via RCMP records and other documents.
Richard Povencher, an LAC spokesperson said that multiple requests were filed through the Access to Information law for a full release of the lists, which prompted the organization to hold “targeted consultations with external stakeholders.”
“As of today, LAC is still refining and concluding its analysis to respond to the ATI requests received,” Provencher told the Ottawa Citizen.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledged that the country “has a really dark history with Nazis in Canada” last September following a standing ovation received by former Waffen SS soldier Yaroslav Hunka in the House of Commons.
“There was a point in our history where it was easier to get in as a Nazi than it was as a Jewish person,” said Miler. “I think that’s a history we have to reconcile.”
In the wake of Hunka’s Parliamentary invitation, several Holocaust survivors wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressing their disgust with the decision and questioning why they would choose to honour a soldier who had sworn allegiance to the Nazi regime.
Trudeau laid the blame for the incident on former-Speaker of the House Anthony Rota, who resigned as a result. However, it was later revealed that Trudeau’s office invited Hunka to “a special event” at Fort York Armoury in Toronto later that evening on Sept. 22.
The invitation was “sent to Mr. Hunka four days before the reception from the Office of Protocol of Canada.”
“The continued withholding of information related to Canada’s Nazi past only serves to further the impact of the Holocaust on survivors living in Canada. The release of the records will provide further closure to Canada’s Jewish community in regard to a sordid period in this nation’s history,” said Robertson.
“It will also serve as an opportunity, in the midst of a horrid rise in antisemitism, for the enhancement of Holocaust education in Canada.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress said it plans to challenge the list’s release in court on Friday, seeking to raise $150,000 to stop the federal government from doing so.
“It is appalling that the Canadian government could attempt for no good reason to subject innocent Canadians, their family members and descendants to public scorn,” wrote CEO and executive director of the UCC Ihor Michalchyshyn in a fundraising release.