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

A federal judge has ordered the release of records detailing a U.S. initiative that secretly resettled Nazi war criminals and collaborators in Canada after World War II, rejecting the government’s claim that disclosure would harm current U.S.-Canada relations. Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada sued after receiving a censored copy of the Rodal Report, a study prepared for the 1985 Deschênes Commission; the government withheld full records under Access to Information law. Federal Court judge Simon Fothergill found no evidence that disclosure would damage bilateral ties, called the decision to withhold unreasonable, and directed that the documents be released. Much of the same material has already been made public by the CIA and U.S. authorities.

The records describe a postwar U.S. intelligence program that helped bring large numbers of suspected Nazi perpetrators into Canada - often with inadequate security screening and with involvement or acquiescence by Canadian officials - and portray Canada as reluctant to prosecute many of those individuals. The Deschênes-era work referenced a list of roughly 900 alleged war criminals and flagged that numerous eastern European collaborators were recruited for anti-Soviet operations. The ruling renews scrutiny of Canada’s wartime admissions and the legacy of Nazi-linked settlers, adding to recent revelations about contentious names on public memorials and monuments tied to Waffen SS veterans.