‍

Toronto (October 10, 2024) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is calling on the Canadian government to make a firm and public commitment to remove the names of more than 300 individuals with suspected ties to the Nazis from Ottawa’s Memorial to the Victims of Communism, whose unveiling remains on hold.

A 2023 report commissioned by Canadian Heritage recommended that 332 of 553 of the honourees should be excluded because of possible involvement with the Nazis during the Holocaust.

This report follows years of FSWC advocacy with the Department of Canadian Heritage urging for a review of those honoured by the memorial. In 2021, FSWC revealed that Roman Shukhevych, a Ukrainian nationalist and military leader who collaborated with the Nazis, was one of those being commemorated, and repeatedly raised the matter with the department. Shukhevych’s name has since been removed.

In a letter sent to Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge today, FSWC urged the government to take “immediate action to ensure the names of any individuals potentially connected to the Nazis or their collaborators are removed from the memorial without delay,” stating that honouring Nazis and collaborators in a public memorial in the nation’s capital “grossly undermines our collective memory of the Holocaust by recasting the perpetrators of genocide into heroic roles” and “is an affront to all Canadians of good conscience.”

“After years of raising concerns with Canadian Heritage about the potential Nazi affiliations of those commemorated by the new memorial, this report calling for the removal of 332 names is the wake-up call our government desperately needs,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy. “Last year, Canada brought shame upon itself by honouring a Nazi veteran in Parliament. Before the memorial is unveiled and Canada risks further embarrassment, the name of every individual with ties to the Nazis or their collaborators must be stripped from the monument. It's unacceptable that any memorial in Canada would honour the soldiers of an enemy that perpetrated genocide and war crimes against Jews and others across Europe. It’s all the more outrageous for a monument dedicated to victims of state oppression and tyranny to do so. We continue to urge the Canadian government to establish rigorous vetting procedures to ensure that no individuals with Nazi connections are ever honored in this country again.”

‍