{"id":45049,"date":"2024-09-20T01:50:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T08:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=45049"},"modified":"2024-09-18T11:06:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:06:13","slug":"the-need-for-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/09\/20\/the-need-for-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"The need for transparency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justice Jules Desch\u00eanes, who was appointed by the Canadian government in February 1985 to oversee the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. (screenshot from B\u2019nai Brith Canada)<\/em><\/p>\n

For nearly four decades, Jewish human rights organizations have been trying to figure out how Nazi war criminals were able to gain citizenship and refuge in Canada following the Second World War. Why were high-ranking members of the Nazi Allgemeine Schutzstaffel (Nazi SS) and Waffen SS troops who fought on Germany\u2019s behalf considered eligible for Canadian citizenship? And who were they? What were their names?<\/p>\n

The answers to many of these questions can be found in an obscure list of reports held in government archives. Since 1985, when the Desch\u00eanes Commission was appointed to investigate allegations that Nazi war criminals were living in Canada, B\u2019nai Brith Canada and other Jewish organizations have been urging the federal government to release all the commission\u2019s findings. Those records include an historical account of Canada\u2019s post-Second World War immigration policies, written by historian Alti Rodal (the Rodal Report).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always felt that providing the general public with a greater understanding of Canada\u2019s \u2018Nazi past\u2019 is a significant venture to providing closure to that time period,\u201d explained Richard Robertson, B\u2019nai Brith\u2019s director of research and advocacy. \u201cThis is important because, at a time of rising antisemitism, where there are less and less survivors of the Holocaust around, it is essential that we furnish educators and advocates with as many tools as possible to enable as fulsome a teaching of the [history of the] Holocaust,\u201d including, noted Robertson, those decisions that may have indirectly made it easier for Nazi perpetrators to escape prosecution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hunka affair<\/b><\/h4>\n

Last September, a critical portion of the documentation was made public by the federal government after it was revealed that a former member of the Waffen SS Galicia Division, Yaroslav Hunka, had received a standing ovation in Parliament. Human rights advocates wasted no time in calling for the rest of the Desch\u00eanes Commission\u2019s documents to be released, arguing that the unredacted reports could help further Holocaust education in Canada and avoid such mistakes. More than 15 groups, representing Jewish, Muslim, Iranian and Korean ethnic communities and interests, supported B\u2019nai Brith\u2019s petition and, on Feb. 1, the Trudeau government released the bulk of Rodal\u2019s account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That move has given human rights organizations access to a wealth of information about the politics, the thinking and the apprehensions that often steered the government\u2019s decision not to prosecute or extradite war criminals. Compiled as an historical account of Canada\u2019s post-Second World War policies, the 618-page redacted Rodal Report provides details that aren\u2019t revealed in Desch\u00eanes\u2019 deliberations.<\/p>\n

Set against the backdrop of today\u2019s rising antisemitism, the report illustrates that Canada\u2019s current struggle to balance the needs of those targeted by antisemitism and discrimination with other democratic principles, like free speech and privacy, is nothing new.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a>
Alti Rodal, author of the Rodal Report. (screenshot from Ukraine Jewish Encounter)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Rodal, Canada\u2019s postwar immigration policies were heavily influenced by a belief that extraditing naturalized Canadian citizens for war crimes would be, in the words of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, \u201cill-advised.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrudeau\u2019s concern,\u201d Rodal wrote, \u201cwas that the revocation [of citizenship of an alleged war criminal] could alarm large numbers of naturalized citizens who would be made to feel that their status in Canada could be insecure as a consequence of the politics and history of the country they left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Pierre Trudeau was not alone in his reticence to bring Nazi war criminals to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those goals which Canadian society has set for itself can certainly not be achieved by short-circuiting the legal process in the hunt for Nazi war criminals,\u201d the commission wrote, while examining whether a military court might be an appropriate venue for litigating charges of war crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time the commission concluded its research, it had effectively struck down every available legal mechanism for pursuing action against most former Nazis living in Canada. The Desch\u00eanes Commission determined that war criminals could not be prosecuted under Canada\u2019s Criminal Code, but neither could they be tried by military tribunal. Nor could they be successfully prosecuted under the Geneva Conventions for acts of genocide or crimes against humanity. And Canada\u2019s extradition laws would be ineffectual in many instances, including when it came to approving requests from Israel. Israel didn\u2019t exist at the time of the Holocaust, the commission reasoned, and thus didn\u2019t meet Canada\u2019s requirements for requesting extradition of Second World War criminals.<\/p>\n

New laws, similar challenges<\/b><\/h4>\n

Canada\u2019s only remedy would be to amend its laws going forward. In 2000, nearly 14 years after the release of the Desch\u00eanes Commission\u2019s report, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act was given Royal Assent. Antisemitism, hate speech and hate crimes are now federal offences as well, covered under Section 319 of the Criminal Code. However, some legal experts say the process of bringing charges of antisemitism or hate crimes to court remains too onerous.<\/p>\n

In June, the Matas Law Society and B\u2019nai Brith hosted an educational webinar on the legal strategies available to Canadian lawyers when pursuing charges of antisemitism. Gary Grill and Leora Shemesh, two Toronto-based lawyers who have recently represented victims of alleged antisemitism in Ontario, offered different views as to why it is so hard to bring a hate crime to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the tools,\u201d acknowledged Shemesh, \u201cwe\u2019re just not effectively using them.\u201d She said she has represented several alleged victims of antisemitism and, in each one of the cases, the charges were later dropped.<\/p>\n

Grill, on the other hand, suggested that the issue had to do with initiative. \u201cIt\u2019s about political will\u201d when it comes, for example, to ensuring that prosecutors understand that \u201cdeath to Zionists\u201d is veiled hate speech and should be prosecuted as antisemitism. \u201cThe education is easy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can educate prosecutors. We can educate police. It\u2019s not a problem. [But] this is about will. It\u2019s not about law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are problems with certain [parts] of Section 319 and [its] enumerated defences,\u201d Shemesh said. \u201cProsecutions under the Criminal Code for the promotion of hatred \u2026 require the approval of the attorney general to proceed, which, I say, has partially explained why such prosecutions have been rare in Canadian jurisprudence.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Robertson\u2019s opinion, there can be value in legislative oversight. The attorney general\u2019s sign-off \u201cis a safeguard to ensure that our hate crimes legislation \u2026 is only utilized when warranted. I believe it is designed to prevent overuse,\u201d he said. \u201cListen, there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. There\u2019s nothing wrong with having checks and balances to ensure that the proper charges are being laid and the severity of these charges warrant such. The issue is the reluctance of the attorney general to sign off on these charges and the procedural, I would say, slow-downs in effecting the sign-off. These are the issues. If we can perfect the procedures around the sign-off, then this is a completely fine check and balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B\u2019nai Brith Canada. (photo from\u00a0 B\u2019nai Brith Canada)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As for addressing the rise in antisemitism that Canada is experiencing today, Robertson believes the answer lies in ensuring Holocaust education is available and continues. That requires ensuring public access to the documents that most accurately tell the story \u2013 including those of Canada and other allied nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the recent issues that we\u2019ve seen regarding immigration into Canada, I think [the Desch\u00eanes and Rodal reports serve as a] narrative that is more relevant than ever. I think it is important for us to understand our mistakes of the past so that we don\u2019t repeat them in the future,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cAnd, as well, when it comes specifically to Holocaust education, I think it is important for Canadians to appreciate the level of complicity, if there was any complicity, in our government helping Nazis escape prosecution following the culmination of the Holocaust in World War II\u2026. It helps to paint the totality of the picture of just how widespread the Holocaust was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson said Canadians often think of the Holocaust as a \u201cEuropean issue,\u201d that it only adversely impacted Jews in Europe. \u201cSo, understanding Canada\u2019s role and [the Holocaust\u2019s] aftermath helps to globalize the narrative, and perhaps that will help Canadians to better appreciate the truly global impact of the Holocaust [and the trauma] that is still ongoing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To date, most of the Desch\u00eanes documents have been made public, with the exception of Part II of the original report, containing the identity of members of the Nazi party who were granted immigration to Canada. The ancillary documents, such as the Rodal Report, also contain information that has not been made public. B\u2019nai Brith Canada continues to lobby for their release.<\/p>\n

Jan Lee <\/b>is an award-winning editorial writer whose articles and op-eds have been published in <\/i>B\u2019nai B\u2019rith Magazine, Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism and<\/i> Baltimore Jewish Times, as well as a number of business, environmental and travel publications. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justice Jules Desch\u00eanes, who was appointed by the Canadian government in February 1985 to oversee the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. (screenshot from B\u2019nai Brith Canada) For nearly four decades, Jewish human rights organizations have been trying to figure out how Nazi war criminals were able to gain citizenship and refuge in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[801,755,3157,23512,4242,53,356,2038,23513,23511],"class_list":["post-45049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-antisemitism","tag-bnai-brith-canada","tag-canada","tag-deschenes-commission","tag-history","tag-holocaust","tag-immigration","tag-nazis","tag-richard-robertson","tag-rodal-report"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}