A federal judge yesterday ordered Heritage Minister Marc Miller to release portions of censored files on Nazi fugitives in Canada. The Federal Court dismissed a range of excuses invoked by Miller’s department and Library and Archives Canada in refusing to name names.
“It was incumbent upon the Minister to show that Library and Archives Canada balanced all the relevant public and private interests in disclosure against the public interest in non-disclosure,” Justice Simon Fothergill wrote in B’nai Brith v. Minister Of Canadian Heritage. There was “strong public interest in the transparency and accountability of Canadian federal institutions.”
B’nai Brith Canada successfully sued for access to censored portions of a 613-page report compiled by the nation’s only Nazi war crimes investigation, the 1986 Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes led by Québec Court of Appeal Justice Jules Deschenes. The report Nazi War Criminals: The Historical And Policy Setting From The 1940s To The Present included a censored chapter on Nazi collaborators and suspected murderers believed to have settled in Canada.
“Inadequate security screening measures led to many perpetrators of Nazi war crimes entering Canada,” noted Justice Fothergill. “This was due in part to a predominant concern of identifying Communist infiltrators and spies rather than Nazis.”
“The public’s right to know must always be at the heart of an Access To Information request,” wrote Justice Fothergill. “The opportunity for the public to become better informed about Canada’s history nourishes public debate and strengthens our democracy. The historical value of a document is a key factor to consider when deciding whether to apply a discretionary exemption to disclosure.”
B’nai Brith yesterday called the ruling historic. “B’nai Brith will continue its fight for the government to unseal remaining records concerning Nazi war criminals in Canada,” CEO Simon Wolle said in a statement. Canadians “have a right to know the truth,” he said.
A comprehensive list of Nazi fugitives let into Canada remains confidential. Uncensored portions of the 1986 report counted 98 known Nazi Party members in Canada in 1946 and 738 German prisoners of war including suspects with SS tattoos. “During the period from 1946 to 1967 some 620,000 immigrants from European countries where participation in war crimes was extensive were admitted to Canada,” said the report. “It would be rash to assume that significant numbers of war criminals and Nazi collaborators did not enter Canada.”
Miller as Minister of Immigration in 2023 told reporters he favoured the release of Nazi files. No reason was given for cabinet’s subsequent refusal to comply with the B’nai Brith request.
“We need to look at whether we can declassify these documents, in what context and in the context of people who are still alive with presumptive due process they are entitled to,” Miller said at the time. “I think people want answers.”
“There is some work to do to get to the truth and that’s something that has to be done in a careful, thought out fashion,” said Miller. “I don’t think there’s any excuse. There’s no excuse for delay other than the fact that we do have to have a process where the declassification of these documents is done in a thoughtful way.”
“What could possibly be in it that still needs to be declassified so many decades later?” asked a reporter. “Good point,” replied Miller.
By Staff 
