B’nai Brith Canada appeals government’s refusal to release Holocaust documents

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December 19, 2024

OTTAWA – B’nai Brith Canada is appealing Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) decision not to declassify information about people suspected of Nazism who settled in the country after the Second World War.

“The public interest clearly favors the disclosure of historical information regarding the Government of Canada’s response (or lack of response) to suspected Nazi war criminals who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War,” said B’ nai Brith on Thursday in a joint statement.

This declaration was signed by 39 academics and institutions such as the Canadian Historical Society and the Montreal Holocaust Museum.

“Historians and the Canadian public in general have not yet had access to the detailed findings and specific recommendations of the Deschênes Commission. The publication of this information is essential,” reads the joint statement.

The joint statement is a demonstration of public support for B’nai Brith’s efforts to reverse BAC’s refusal of our latest Freedom of Information request to obtain the full, uncensored final report of the 1986 Deschênes Commission. commission, named after its chairman, Justice Deschênes, investigated allegations that Canada had allowed suspected Nazi war criminals to enter the country in the immediate post-war period. David Matas, B’nai Brith’s Honorary Senior Legal Advisor, represented our organization before the Commission and signed Thursday’s joint statement.

“We must prevent history from repeating itself,” said David Granovsky, director of government relations for B’nai Brith Canada. “It is imperative that everyone understands the extent to which the country was complicit in allowing the Nazis to evade accountability for their crimes.

“The need for full disclosure of the Commission report was unfortunately highlighted by the Hunka affair,” said Mr Granovsky, referring to a scandal in September 2023, during which Parliament, for example, inadvertently, gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, who would have served in the 14^e Waffen SS division during World War II.

B’nai Brith reiterated its call for BAC to unveil the Deschênes report immediately after the Hunka debacle. In February 2024, the government partially acquiesced by publishing most of a 1987 study by historian Alti Rodal.

Mr. Rodal’s work, which is based largely on still confidential documents, was the first to show the extent to which Canada served as a refuge for former Nazis.