Canadian federal court rules to release redacted sections of 1986 Nazi resettlement report

Canada’s Federal Court ordered on Tuesday that previously redacted sections of a 1986 report be disclosed, following the longstanding efforts of B’nai Brith Canada to make the entire document public.

The report, written by historian Alti Rodal for the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, concerns how alleged Nazi war criminals and collaborators settled in Canada after the conclusion of WWII.

According to Rodal’s report, Nazi war criminals and their collaborators had undergone inadequate security screenings upon arriving in Canada, as Canadian authorities had been more concerned with identifying communist spies.

While much of the report is already public record, important sections have remained redacted.

“It is a scandal that, during a time when Canada maintained severe restrictions on Jewish immigration to this country, it facilitated the entry of perpetrators of Nazi crimes,” said Simon Wolle, B’nai Brith Canada’s Chief Executive Officer. “Canadians have a right to know the truth about not only Canada’s actions but the US’s covert efforts to sneak ex-Nazis into Canada after the Second World War.”

“This Federal Court decision paves the way for accountability and transparency, basic requirements for Canadians to maintain trust in our democratic system of governance.”

“B’nai Brith will continue its fight for the Government to unseal remaining records concerning Nazi war criminals in Canada and the Deschênes Commission,” he said.

Wolle thanked lawyers David Rosenfeld and Michael Wenig, and Professor Jared McBride from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for their work in the case and support of B’nai Brith.

LAC releases sections of report at B’nai Brith's request

In February 2024, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) released additional redacted sections of the report to B’nai Brith following an Access to Information request from the organization.

The version of the report released in 2024, however, retained several redactions across seven pages in one section, as well as file numbers from 14 of the endnotes.

The redacted section discusses Canada’s discovery of a covert US intelligence program aimed at resettling Nazis and Nazi collaborators in Canada by evading proper security screenings.

Justice Simon Fothergill, who made the Thursday ruling to release the sections, rejected LAC’s argument that releasing certain additional sections would harm Canada’s international affairs, noting that it had failed to provide sufficient evidence of such a case.

Fothergill noted that the public’s “opportunity... to become better informed about Canada’s history nourishes public debate and strengthens our democracy.”