Canada declassifies report on entry of people with Nazi pasts — Jerusalem Post

Canada has released an almost fully declassified version of a historic 1986 report on Nazi war criminals. The document states that U.S. intelligence operations during the Cold War may have facilitated the entry into the country of people with suspected Nazi pasts, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Court ruling on declassification

The report, titled “Nazi War Criminals in Canada: Historical and Policy Setting from the 1940s to the Present,” was prepared by researcher Alti Rodal for the Deschênes Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. Significant portions of the 618-page document remained sealed for decades.

At the beginning of September, the Federal Court of Canada ruled in favor of B'nai Brith Canada and ordered authorities to remove nearly all redactions from the report under the Access to Information Act. The Department of Canadian Heritage did not appeal the ruling, and Library and Archives Canada provided B'nai Brith Canada with an advance copy of the declassified document at the beginning of October.

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Information on the U.S. program

According to the declassified excerpts, Canadian officials uncovered an organized program run by the U.S. Army unit Research and Resettlement Branch, known as USAREUR. The report states that this structure served as a cover for the CIA and other U.S. intelligence services that resettled defectors and former agents who provided services to the United States.

As The Canadian Press reports, citing the document’s contents, a USAREUR representative gave Canadian authorities a list of approximately 35–40 people who had already entered Canada with the assistance of this program. Checks by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police led investigators to conclude that nearly all of these people could have been barred from entering the country on security grounds. The report also states that U.S. intelligence officers may have provided such individuals with forged documents and assured Canadian visa officers that there was no adverse information about them.

B'nai Brith Canada CEO Simon Volle called the publication of the document a historic result. The organization is also seeking the release of the second part of the Deschênes Commission’s final report, which has remained entirely sealed since 1986 and is believed to contain names and findings regarding suspected Nazi war criminals who settled in Canada.