A federal judge in Canada has ordered the government to release previously redacted portions of a decades-old report detailing how alleged Nazi war criminals and collaborators entered and settled in Canada after World War II.
Justice Simon Fothergill ruled on Tuesday that Library and Archives Canada had failed to demonstrate that releasing most of the material would harm Canada’s international relations or national security.
The case involves a 1986 report by historian Alti Rodal, “Nazi War Criminals in Canada: The Historical and Policy Setting from the 1940s to the Present,” which was prepared for the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, also known as the Deschênes Commission.
One section of the report describes Canadian officials’ 1954 discovery of an alleged U.S. intelligence program that covertly helped resettle former Nazis and collaborators in Canada while circumventing security screening. Some passages remained redacted after Library and Archives Canada released additional portions of the report in response to a 2024 access-to-information request from B’nai Brith Canada.
Fothergill rejected the government’s argument that releasing the information could damage relations with the United States. He allowed one redaction—a statement from a U.S. official that was provided in confidence—to remain. The judge described the information in the statement as apparently innocuous and said Canada should consider seeking U.S. consent to release it.
“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,” Simon Wolle, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, stated. “Canadians have a right to know the truth about not only Canada’s actions but the U.S.'s covert efforts to sneak ex-Nazis into Canada after the Second World War.”
The government has 30 days to appeal the decision.
