In early September, the Federal Court sided with B'nai Brith, ordering the government to remove almost all redactions from the 618-page report pursuant to the Access to Information Act.
The Canadian government released an unredacted version of a 1986 historical report uncovering details about how Cold War American intelligence operations facilitated the entry of individuals with suspected Nazi backgrounds into Canada following a Federal Court ruling siding with B’nai Brith Canada in September.
The report, titled “Nazi War Criminals in Canada: The Historical and Policy Setting from the 1940s to the Present,” was authored by researcher Alti Rodal as a foundational background report for the Deschênes Commission on war criminals in Canada.
Key sections detailing inter-agency friction and security screening breakdowns remained heavily redacted by Ottawa for decades before the recent declassification.
The release followed a prolonged legal battle spearheaded by B’nai Brith Canada, which has fought since the 1980s to compel Ottawa to divulge Holocaust-era records in national archives.
In early September, the Federal Court sided with B’nai Brith, ordering the government to remove almost all redactions from the 618-page report pursuant to the Access to Information Act.
After the Department of Canadian Heritage chose not to appeal the decision, the Library and Archives of Canada provided B’nai Brith Canada with an advance copy of the declassified report at the beginning of October.
New details show proof regarding a covert US resettlement scheme
According to B’nai Brith Canada and reporting by The Canadian Press, details from the newly unredacted passages bring to light archival proof regarding a covert US resettlement scheme.
The report showed that Canadian officials discovered an active and organized program operated by the Research and Resettlement Branch of the US Army, known as USAREUR, which served as a cover used by the CIA and other American intelligence services to relocate defectors and former agents who had provided services to the US.
According to reporting by The Canadian Press on the contents of the declassified sections of the report, a USAREUR official confided that the resettlement scheme included individuals with criminal records, encompassing cases of moral turpitude, a category that historically included Nazi collaborators.
The newly unredacted text discloses that the US official provided Canadian authorities with a list of roughly 35 to 40 individuals who had already entered Canada with the assistance of the covert American program.
Subsequent checks by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police led investigators to conclude that nearly all of those individuals would have been rejectable on security grounds.
As detailed in reporting on Rodal’s unredacted version, American intelligence personnel were uniquely positioned to provide these individuals with falsified documentation and assure Canadian visa officers during routine checks that there were no adverse findings.
A 'historic outcome'
Simon Wolle, B’nai Brith Canada’s chief executive officer, called the release a historic outcome following the September court victory.
“We are pleased this information has been made available to historians, survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants, and the public,” Wolle said on Thursday. “The time has finally come to obtain justice for the Jewish people, for Canadians to learn from the past, as well as to pursue truth and accountability in Canada.”
B’nai Brith Canada said that the fight for accountability is ongoing as the organization continues its push to secure the release of Part II of the Final Report of the Deschênes Commission.
That portion has remained entirely suppressed by the government since 1986 and is believed to contain sensitive investigative names and findings regarding suspected Nazi war criminals who settled in Canada.