Attorney General Arif Virani has refused to reveal a confidential list of 20 suspected Nazi fugitives who immigrated to Canada after the Second World War.. Nazi Blacklist .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the confidential list was created in 1985 by a federal war crimes commission..“There is always room to learn about instances of gross human rights violations around the planet that have occurred over time,” Attorney General Virani told reporters. .“Obviously, we’ve invested money in terms of Holocaust awareness.”.“Is there more to learn?” asked Virani. “There will always be more to learn.”.The Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes led by Québec Court of Appeal Justice Jules Deschenes identified some 200 unnamed suspects in its public report..A second secret report identified 20 accused Nazis with recommendations on prosecution. The list has remained censored under the Access to Information Act..“Should we reopen the Deschenes report?” asked a reporter. .“I think what’s important is to understand there is a process in place in Canada,” replied Attorney General Virani..“Do you support reopening the Deschenes report?” asked a reporter. .“What I will always support is ensuring people who have perpetrated war crimes or crimes against humanity or crimes such as genocide are brought to justice,” replied Virani..In a submission to the Commons Ethics committee on February 14, B'nai Brith stated the secret list must be made public..B'nai Brith and 18 other human rights organizations, including Friends of Simon Wiesenthal, once again called for the release of historical records on Friday..“Canadians deserve to know how and why Nazi war criminals were able to settle in this country,” wrote B’nai Brith..“It is secret, so I don’t know what’s in it either,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters. “I understand there are many groups, including leading Jewish advocacy groups, that are demanding the release of those names.”.“It is something we could possibly examine again,” continued Miller. “Not being privy to what is in those documents, I don’t have a particular view that I’ve fully formed on it yet."."But in a country like Canada that has not only a difficult history with Nazis in Canada but also one of the most important diaspora of Jewish people, including some of the largest proportions of Holocaust survivors, impunity is absolutely not an option.”.Canada never had a successful prosecution of Nazi-era criminals..The department of Justice by 2017 had a single case, Helmut Oberlander, a Kitchener, ON, contractor. Oberlander was an Eastern European death squad interpreter who resisted deportation for more than two decades. He died in Waterloo, ON in 2021 at 97..After the Deschenes Commission report, several prosecutions related to Nazi-era crimes were initiated. However, all of them resulted in acquittals or stays due to insufficient evidence or the poor health of the defendants..Defendants included Michael Pawlowski, a Renfrew, ON, carpenter accused of killing 410 Jews in Belarus in 1942. Stephen Reistetter, a St. Catharines, ON, autoworker, was charged with participating in Holocaust transports in Slovakia in 1942. Radislav Grujicic, a Windsor, ON, bookseller, was accused of murdering Jews as a Belgrade policeman in 1943..Toronto restaurateur Imre Finta was found not guilty on charges involving transporting 8,617 Jews during the Holocaust while a Hungarian police captain in 1944..The Supreme Court in 1994 upheld Finta’s acquittal after concluding the “defence of obedience to superior orders and the peace officers defence are available to members of the military or police forces in prosecutions for war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Finta died in 2003 at 91..In 2009, the Quebec Superior Court's first successful war crimes trial resulted in a life sentence for former Rwandan businessman Désiré Munyaneza. He was found guilty of murdering Tutsi families in 1994.
