Toronto (September 19, 2024) – Today, during a stakeholder consultation with Library and Archives Canada, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) called for the Government of Canada to release Part II of the 1986 Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, commonly known as the Deschênes Commission, which includes the names of some 900 alleged Nazi war criminals who entered Canada after the Second World War.

FSWC was joined by Holocaust survivor Gershon Willinger, who emphasized the importance of releasing these documents and the broader harm that withholding such information has caused and will continue to cause to the entire country.

The consultation came after Library and Archives Canada faced backlash for meeting with what it described as “a discrete group of individuals or organizations,” but failing to consult Holocaust organizations, scholars or survivors.

In recent months, FSWC has made several inquiries with government officials to determine whether plans were in place to release the remaining Deschênes Commission documents, but to no avail. FSWC was never informed that consultations had been underway.

“When the government chooses to keep important documents classified, it raises questions about what is being hidden and why, and people begin to question the integrity of the institutions that we trust to protect them and to uphold justice,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy, during today’s consultation. “By concealing the uncomfortable truths in these documents, the government continues to signal that it prioritizes image over integrity, that it prioritizes the comfort of the perpetrators and their families over the truth and over the rights of Canadians to understand their own history. Canada must confront its past with honesty and with courage. By making these documents public, the government will reaffirm its commitment to justice to ensure that our democratic institutions remain strong and remain credible, and in doing so, it will open up a process of reconciliation and dialogue that has been a long time coming.”

“When Nazis are let into a country, it becomes the history of that particular country,” said Willinger during the consultation. “Every Canadian, Jewish and non-Jewish, has a right to know the history of this country, including the history of Nazi war criminals who immigrated to Canada.”