The Canadian government has decided to keep secret a list of some 900 alleged Nazi war criminals let into the country following the Second World War.
On Monday, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) sent letters to people and organizations who requested the release of the documents under the country’s access to information laws, saying they would be witheld “in their entirety.”
The Daily Beast was one of the requestors.
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For decades, Jewish groups have called for the release of the second part of the Deschênes Commission report, the result of a near two year inquiry conducted in the mid-1980s that studied claims Canada had been a safe haven for Nazis.
The first part of the report, which determined that alleged Nazi war criminals were indeed admitted to and residing in the country, was released to the public in 1986.
The second part, which names names, has been kept under lock and key for nearly four decades.
Last year, the issue exploded into full-blown international scandal after Canada’s parliament gave a standing ovation to a Ukrainian Nazi war veteran invited by the then Speaker of the House of Commons.
To make matters worse, this happened during a visit to the legislature by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was unaware that the 98-year-old man he’d been invited to applaud for—introduced as a “hero” who fought ”against the Russians”—served in the Galicia Division, an infantry unit of the Waffen-SS.
A significant number of soldiers from the division, which comprised largely of Ukrainian volunteers, fled to Canada after the war. A handful even ended up commemorated on memorials—one monument to Ukrainian soldiers who served in the SS was removed from a cemetery outside Toronto earlier this year.
In the fallout of the Nazi applause scandal, speaker Anthony Rota resigned and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized to Zelenskyy, calling the incident “deeply embarrassing.”
Amid criticism from Jewish groups, Trudeau also said the government was “looking carefully” at declassifying records on Nazis admitted to Canada.
To that end, Library and Archives Canada launched a series of consultations earlier this year about whether to release the second part of the Deschênes report.
LAC did not consult Holocaust survivors or Holocaust scholars who advocated for its release, the Ottawa Citizen reported in September.
Polish and Jewish groups, along with the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, called for the report’s release. Other Ukrainian heritage groups, notably the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, argued for keeping it secret.
On Monday, any hope for the release of the report was dealt a devastating blow.
LAC sent an email, which was obtained by The Daily Beast, to the groups it consulted, informing them them that the government had “finalized its assessment.”
The email said the government would “communicate the outcome” of that assessment to people “who requested those records later today.”
Shortly after that email was sent, the people and organizations who had requested the documents received letters informing them the records were being witheld “in their entirety.”
“After a comprehensive review in accordance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act— which included targeted consultations with external stakeholders and various Government of Canada departments— a decision has been made to withhold the Part II Report of the Deschênes Commission in its entirety," said Library and Archives Canada, in a statement to The Daily Beast.
LAC cited exemptions allowing it to conceal information obtained in confidence from foreign governments, that could be “injurious to the conduct of international affairs,” that could reveal the identity of informants, or that could threaten an individual’s safety.
Leading Canadian Jewish groups told The Daily Beast they were disheartened by the decision.
“The government stacked the entire process from the very beginning to ensure the outcome that it wanted, which was to continue to keep the shameful truth hidden,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, the senior director of policy at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Canada, in an interview. “In the process, they have silenced Holocaust survivors and the victims of those who perpetrated the terrible crimes of the Holocaust.”
The Wiesenthal Center was one of the groups consulted by LAC, advocating for the release of the second part of the report.
B’Nai Brith Canada, which was among the requesters of the documents, also condemned the decision.
“We are extremely disappointed,” said David Granovsky, the non-profit’s director of government relations, in an interview. “We met with ministers, were in front of a committee, we met with the Prime Minister’s office. As members of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance we thought Canada would do something before the next election.”
Under Access to Information Laws, requestors are able to appeal decisions not to release documents to an independent commissioner.
Granovsky, who said he has worked on the Deschênes file, said B‘nai Brith intends to appeal.
