The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) say they were worried that Russia could use the report to 'further these allegations or conduct disinformation campaigns in Canada.'Vyacheslav Prokofyev/The Associated Press
Russian propaganda in the war against Ukraine could get a boost from the release of a secret report naming hundreds of alleged Nazi war criminals who later came to Canada, the federal government has been warned.
Ottawa has been considering releasing the remainder of an inquiry report that has been kept secret for decades and contains the names of around 900 alleged war criminals who came to Canada after the Second World War, including members of a Ukrainian SS division.
The Globe and Mail is one of three organizations to have filed access to information requests asking for Part 2 of the Deschênes Commission report to be released.
But the publication of the secret list is being opposed by some groups and individuals consulted by the government who fear it could fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the invasion of Ukraine amounts to a purge of Nazis.
Last year there was an outcry after a Ukrainian SS veteran, Yaroslav Hunka, received two standing ovations in the House of Commons during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC), in response to the access to information requests, has carried out a consultation on whether to publish Part 2 of the 1986 Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. The commission was led by retired Superior Court of Quebec judge Jules Deschênes after concerns were aired about Nazi war criminals living in Canada, but the names in Part 2 were held back.
A report by LAC on its consultation in June and July, seen by The Globe and Mail, says many stakeholders it spoke to were concerned about the implications “of associating Ukrainian names with Nazis, especially considering that this was part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.”
They were worried that Russia could use the report to “further these allegations or conduct disinformation campaigns in Canada,” which might affect public support here for Ukraine.
Ihor Michalchyshyn, chief executive officer and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said he thought the government is bound by Justice Deschênes’s view that Part 2 of the report should “remain confidential.”
But he added that all alleged war criminals, regardless of when or where they committed their crimes, should be brought to trial under Canadian criminal law. “If evidence of wartime criminality by any person found in Canada exists, that information must be communicated to the proper authorities for investigation,” he said.
The report by LAC on its consultation said some people expressed concern that people who committed atrocities during the Second World War “were allowed to live peacefully in Canada and never faced any justice measures due to insufficient evidence.”
Gershon Willinger, a Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands who lives in Ontario, told The Globe in a statement that “the thought of Nazi war criminals who were involved in the murder of my family members living in this country is absolutely horrifying to me. If this is the case, I believe I have the right to know it.”
Alti Rodal, director of historical research at the Deschênes Commission, told The Globe that it was important to release the names and establish the truth, which is “ultimately a uniting factor.”
But she cautioned that context was crucial too, and warned that Ottawa must make clear the list was of individuals alleged to have been complicit in war crimes, not war criminals. She said that “they are allegations only that were minimally investigated. They were not well researched let alone proven in a court.”
Twenty-seven people on the list of alleged war criminals faced legal action, extradition or the revocation of their Canadian citizenship, according to the LAC report. Some others left Canada or were found never to have come here.
The report says that the probability of harm and trauma should be a factor in considering whether to release the names, which most stakeholders agreed should be considered on an individual basis.
But Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director, policy and advocacy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, said less attention should be paid to the feelings of alleged war criminals and more attention paid to their victims.
She said the centre had been excluded from the consultation, despite being one of the leading authorities on the Holocaust.
“It looks like the government is placing the wishes of war criminals over and above the rights of Canadians to know the truth about terrible crimes committed by those who have quietly lived among us for so many years,” she said in a statement.
Historian Per Anders Rudling of Lund University in Sweden, who has researched members of the Ukrainian SS Galicia division who came to Canada, said opening the archives “is the ethical thing to do.”
Library and Archives Canada said as Part 2 of the Deschênes Commission has not been made public, it “requires a full review in accordance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.”
“As of today, LAC is still refining and concluding its analysis to respond to the ATI requests,“ spokesman Richard Provencher said.