When an individual suspected of taking part in the Second World War murder of Jews in western Ukraine applied for admission to Canada in 1951, immigration officials did not follow up with potential witnesses who might have provided crucial details.
In another case, a Slovak leader hoping to unite 茅migr茅s under his leadership was allowed to visit Canada repeatedly in the 1950s and 害羞草研究所�60s, despite a record of war crimes.
In 1962, the RCMP learned that a Soviet trial of concentration camp guards in what is now called Belarus had named two people living in Canada as active participants in the execution of civilians during the war.
These are among several unsettling vignettes in the latest, more revealing version of a September 1986 study prepared for a landmark federal commission of inquiry on war crimes.
Even though the cases are labelled with letters of the alphabet, not names of suspects, they were excised from the original version of researcher Alti Rodal害羞草研究所檚 study, initially released under the Access to Information Act in heavily censored form in 1987.
B害羞草研究所檔ai Brith Canada used the access law to obtain the most recent, fuller iteration last summer. 害羞草研究所淭here was no reason not to disclose it originally,害羞草研究所� said David Matas, senior legal counsel for the group.
Rodal害羞草研究所檚 archival research and case analysis 害羞草研究所� including the once-hidden elements 害羞草研究所� are finding new relevance amid a push for greater transparency about how Canada has dealt with suspected Nazi war criminals and collaborators.
Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a voluntary unit created by the Nazis to help fight the Soviet Union, was welcomed to the House of Commons last month to hear a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Liberal MP Anthony Rota, who invited the 98-year-old Hunka and introduced him as a hero, resigned as Speaker of the House over his decision.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also apologized on behalf of Parliament.
The episode sparked fresh calls for the full release of records from the inquiry on war criminals led by Jules Desch锚nes, including 822 opinions on individual cases.
The commission recommended in 1986 that Canada take appropriate action in 20 files of alleged Nazi war criminals and to investigate dozens of others.
In his public report, Desch锚nes said the Galicia Division should not be indicted as a group, stating that charges of war crimes against members had never been substantiated. 害羞草研究所淔urther, in the absence of evidence of participation in or knowledge of specific war crimes, mere membership in the Galicia Division is insufficient to justify prosecution.害羞草研究所�
Trudeau said last week that public servants were carefully weighing the question of disclosing additional Desch锚nes commission records and would make recommendations to the government.
Rodal害羞草研究所檚 research for the commission was intended to provide insight into the post-war policies of the government concerning immigration, refugees and war criminals, including how they evolved over the years.
Rodal noted that in order to carry out their massive program of extermination, the Nazis would have had to rely 害羞草研究所� and indeed did rely 害羞草研究所� on extensive co-operation from non-Germans in various parts of Europe.
害羞草研究所淲hile many may very well have been forcibly conscripted into Waffen-SS units, a considerable number did volunteer to assist in the Nazi campaign, not only against Communism, but also in the destruction of populations deemed undesirable.害羞草研究所�
Throughout the 1950s, there was a progressive relaxation of security-screening guidelines to permit legal entry for former members of Nazi organizations and for Nazi collaborators 害羞草研究所� the groups most likely to have included persons who had been involved in war crimes, Rodal found.
The predominant concern of screening policy and practice in the postwar decade was, in fact, not to identify Nazis, but to weed out possible Communist infiltrators and spies, now seen as the primary security threat, she wrote.
Rodal concluded that in the decade following the war, there was 害羞草研究所渁mple opportunity害羞草研究所� for war criminals and Nazi collaborators to enter Canada.
害羞草研究所淭he inclination of policy and practice with regard to a background of collaboration with the Nazis and possible involvement in war crimes was toward leniency rather than rigour,害羞草研究所� the study says.
害羞草研究所淪pecial dispensation, particularly for those who were of preferred ethnic background, was provided in the regulations for persons guilty mainly of collaboration with the Nazis.害羞草研究所�
Where screening was not waived, it was 害羞草研究所渋n significant measure ineffectual,害羞草研究所� the study adds.
害羞草研究所淯nderstaffed screening posts, manned by persons with the most rudimentary training and knowledge with respect to wartime events in the lands from which the prospective immigrants came, were overwhelmed by the large numbers of persons displaced by the war.害羞草研究所�
People presented meagre, sometimes falsified, documentation, and much of the processing and screening of refugees and displaced individuals was done by international agencies whose role was to repatriate or resettle as many people in as short a time as possible, the study says.
Canadian security screening officers in Germany, finding little information about the personal histories of displaced persons, checked only 害羞草研究所渟uspicious characters害羞草研究所� for a Nazi criminal background.
In addition, there were no fingerprinting requirements, application forms did not include written questions about wartime military service until 1953 and official lists of war criminals compiled by the United Nations and others were not consulted, Rodal害羞草研究所檚 study says.
Directives were issued to screening officers to ignore SS tattoo marks for Baltic Waffen-SS cases as early as 1948, she found. Indeed, members of the Nazi Party and the Waffen-SS were admissible to Canada by 1950-51.
A determining factor in Allied war crimes policy was the utilization, against the Soviet Union, of former Nazis and Nazi collaborators by American, British and French intelligence agencies and by the Vatican, and subsequent help in resettling such individuals, the study notes.
Rodal cites April 1953 correspondence that said Canada害羞草研究所檚 interdepartmental committee on defectors would require assurances in any case involving a German defector or ex-agent that 害羞草研究所渢he subject害羞草研究所檚 past political connections, particularly with the Nazi Party, will not be of such a nature that disclosure here might prove embarrassing.害羞草研究所�
Even so, RCMP checks on the background of an Estonian who entered Canada as a defector in 1957 revealed that he had served in a police battalion in 1941-42 and later joined the Waffen-SS.
READ ALSO:
