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Toronto (November 5, 2024) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is appalled by the latest decision by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to conceal the names of Nazi war criminals who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War.

In a letter sent to participants of LAC’s recent stakeholder consultations on the release of Part II of Canada’s 1986 Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, otherwise known as the Deschênes Commission, which includes the names of some 900 suspected Nazis and their collaborators, the LAC said it has finalized its assessment of the Part II documents and will be communicating the outcome to those who requested records. Several organizations that filed an access to information request to view the documents were notified soon after that the documents will be withheld.

This decision is sadly consistent with Canada’s decades-long failure to bring most Nazi war criminals on our shores to justice for their role in the Holocaust. It comes after FSWC, joined by Holocaust survivor Gershon Willinger, emphasized the importance of finally releasing the documents during a stakeholder consultation with LAC in September.

“It’s utterly disgraceful that the federal government has determined that Canadians do not deserve to know the names of Nazi war criminals who entered this country and went on to live a life of freedom and impunity,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy. “The decision-making process was stacked from the outset to ensure this shameful outcome, silencing the voices of Holocaust survivors, organizations and scholars. Our government has the opportunity to right past wrongs by being honest and transparent about the many Nazis who were welcomed with open arms to settle in this country. By opting to protect their identities instead, the government not only insults those who suffered at the hands of these criminals but also dishonours, just ahead of Remembrance Day, our brave veterans, who sacrificed so much to defeat Hitler's forces in Europe. Canadians deserve transparency and to know the full truth of our country’s history, and they deserve a government that has the courage to confront the darker chapters of our past."

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