Ottawa
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Canada could revisit calls to declassify Canadian documents about the presence of Nazi war criminals in Canada.
That could include making public the names of former soldiers who fought with the Nazis during the Second World War and were allowed to later immigrate to Canada.
His comments come as fallout continues for Canada and the federal government after the House of Commons gave a standing ovation to a Ukrainian veteran they later discovered had fought alongside Nazis during the Second World War.
Speaker Anthony Rota, who invited the man to witness Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech in Parliament last week, is to step down later today after acknowledging the invitation was a grave mistake.
B'nai Brith Canada said on Tuesday that Rota's resignation was the right move, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must now show that Canada is willing to confront its decision to admit former Nazi soldiers by making public all records about their admittance.
Miller says he has read the report from a 1985 commission on war criminals in Canada twice this week and while he has more to learn about what information from that report has been redacted, he thinks the discussion about what records should be released could be re-examined.
Banner image: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2023.
