B’nai Brith Canada is calling on the federal cabinet to unseal all classified records related to Nazi fugitives in Canada and make the digitized documents available to the public, Blacklock’s Reporter reveals. In a petition to the House of Commons finance committee, the group emphasized the importance of waiving confidentiality regarding enemy combatants and collaborators.The petition urged the government to establish “a publicly accessible digital archive of all records by government departments and agencies relating to the Holocaust.”“Allow Canadians to fully appreciate and move on from Canada’s Nazi past,” the petition stated. B’nai Brith stressed that public access to Holocaust archives is essential for Canadians to “learn lessons” and honour the victims of the genocide. “Learning lessons from the Holocaust is a legacy we can create for the victims, giving meaning to the senseless death of innocents,” the petition added.Canada is a signatory to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which mandates member countries to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the opening of archives” to ensure Holocaust-related documents are accessible to researchers.Renewed calls for the release of Nazi-era records follow public outrage over the mistaken tribute in the House of Commons on September 22, 2023, to Yaroslav Hunka, a Nazi collaborator from North Bay, Ontario. Hunka was a volunteer in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a group deemed a criminal organization by the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946.In February 2023, the Department of Immigration declassified a 618-page summary of Nazi collaborators and war criminals who entered Canada after 1945. The report, Nazi War Criminals In Canada: The Historical And Policy Setting From The 1940s To The Present, concluded that “war criminals could have and are likely to have come to Canada in significant numbers.” The report was prepared for the 1985 Deschênes Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes. However, a second document—a confidential blacklist of 20 Nazi fugitives recommended for prosecution—remains sealed.Speaking to reporters, Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledged the need to consider declassifying these documents. “I think people want answers,” Miller said, noting that any review must be conducted carefully. “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.”Miller added that while declassification must be handled sensitively, there should be no unnecessary delay. When asked by a reporter why the documents remained sealed, Miller responded, “Good point.”“It will require some work by people who put thought into what elements get declassified if not in their entirety,” he added.
