Judge orders release of records on Nazi war criminals who settled in Canada

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeDefence Watch Judge orders release of records on Nazi war criminals who settled in Canada Government claimed release of documents on CIA operation would harm US-Canada relations Author of the article: By David Pugliese  •  Ottawa Citizen Published Sep 03, 2026 Last updated 2 hours ago 4 minute read Join the conversation Top Nazi leaders faced war crimes trials after the Second World War but many others who took part in the Holocaust went unpunished. The Canadian government is examining whether to release a list of 900 alleged Nazi war criminals that was compiled in 1986 by the Deschênes Commission. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES (RECORD GROUP 238 / NAID 540127), PUBLIC DOMAIN Article content A judge has ordered the release of federal records on an American initiative to settle Nazi war criminals in Canada after ruling there is no evidence that making the files public would harm relations between the two nations. Article content The records involve a U.S. program set up after the Second World War to secretly settle large numbers of Nazi war criminals in Canada, often with the support of Canadian officials. Article content Article content Article content Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada took the federal government to court after receiving a censored copy of a report written for the 1985 Deschênes Commission on Nazi war criminals. That study, called the Rodal Report, discussed a secret U.S. government program to resettle Nazis and Nazi collaborators in Canada by evading proper security screenings. Article content The federal government declined to release the documents under the Access to Information law, claiming the records would harm U.S.-Canada relations at a time of ongoing tension. Article content But Federal Court judge Simon Fothergill concluded that claim was unsupported by any evidence. “A bald statement of ongoing ‘tensions’ between Canada and the United States is not a sufficient basis to refuse disclosure of very specific information related to efforts by the United States to resettle suspected Nazis and Nazi collaborators in Canada following World War II,” he wrote in a Sept. 1 ruling. Article content The decision to withhold the information was unreasonable and the records must now be disclosed, Fothergill concluded. Article content Similar information had already been released years ago by…