Ottawa reopens study of releasing Nazi war criminal files after omitting Holocaust experts

The CJN Daily with Ellin Bessner

After the debacle in 2023, when Parliamentarians gave a standing ovation to an elderly Ukrainian Waffen SS veteran, pressure mounted on Ottawa to speed up publishing the names of long-classified files containing the identities of hundreds of suspected Nazi war criminals welcomed by Canada after the Second World War. The files were prepared in the 1980s for the so-called Deschenes Commission, which studied Canada’s postwar immigration screening problems, especially when it came to former soldiers from Nazi-occupied Europe. It was believed the government would publish them in May 2024, to help commemorate Jewish Heritage Month. But that didn’t happen. In June and July, researchers from Library and Archives Canada held consultations with a small list of stakeholders to discuss privacy issues with the files. A decision was expected this week. But that could be delayed further, after media reports surfaced slamming the bureaucrats for not consulting with a key group: Holocaust survivors and educators. They also missed academics, Polish Canadians and others who want the files released. The CJN has learned the consultations are being reopened as experts from the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Canada, including one of the group’s Holocaust survivors, are scheduled to have a hearing this Thursday. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Sam Goldstein, former legal director for B’nai Brith Canada, the human rights organization that has been at the centre of the campaign to release these files. Goldstein explains why he thinks the government is stonewalling—and what should happen next.

What we talked about

• Read more from February 2024 when Ottawa released more of the Deschenes Commission report’s first part, in The CJN.
• Why B’nai Brith Canada and others want the full records of suspected Nazi war criminals released, on The CJN Daily from Oct. 2023.
• Read B’nai Brith Canada’s statement to the House of Commons committee on Access to Information, Feb. 14, 2023.
• Why the Speaker of the House of Commons resigned after arranging a Parliamentary standing ovation for an elderly former Ukrainian Waffen SS soldier, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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