Since its creation in 1919 Canadian Jewish Congress has faced many challenges, but none so heart-breaking as responding to the fate of our brothers and sisters in Europe under Nazism. In the face of growing evidence and, finally, certainty of the mass murder of Jewish men, women and children during the Holocaust, the Canadian government remained silent. The doors to Canada remained shut when escape was still a possibility and were only pried open after World War II and with great effort.

But survivors did come to Canada and our country, today, is home to more than 17,000 members of this precious community.

The relationship of survivors to Canadian Jewish Congress is one of long duration.  It is deeply informed by the respect in which this community is held, not only for the contributions they have made to Canada but also because of the responsibility that we exercise through them, to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is preserved and that those who enabled the murder of six million Jewish men, women and children find no safe haven in this country.

Since 2008, Canadian Jewish Congress and the CJC Charities Committee have worked in partnership with the Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors (CJHS) to assist them in their mission to advocate for members in Canada and to represent Canadian survivors at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (the Claims Conference), which negotiates with European states for increased benefits and restitution for survivors. Of particular concern is the fact that approximately 3000 survivors in Canada are living in poverty. To address this situation, CJHS in 2007 negotiated with the Jewish Federations in Toronto and Montreal to secure funding for survivors which matches that received from the Claims Conference. Canadian Jewish Congress and the CJC Charities Committee supported this initiative and have produced a comprehensive Canadian Guide to Programs and Services for Holocaust Survivors in order to better meet the special needs of this community.

Canadian Jewish Congress and the CJC Charities Committee also continue to honour the memory of those who did not survive the Nazi terror through support of and participation in Holocaust Education Week, through our fight against Holocaust deniers and through our continued call for justice against those who helped to bring the nightmare of genocide to life.

Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals

Since the end of the Holocaust, Canadian Jewish Congress has been active in advocating successive Canadian governments to take strong action against enablers of the perpetrators of the Holocaust who managed to find refuge in Canada. For years Canada exercised what can only be described as “wilful blindness” in dealing with Nazi-era defendants who improperly gained Canadian citizenship by lying about their past.

While the chances of finding and bringing to justice any new Nazi-era cases have now seemingly passed, there still remains a small opportunity for Canada to redeem itself. Thankfully, in recent years a few Nazi enablers have been brought before Canada’s courts: men like Vladimir Katriuk and Jacob Fast, who were Nazi collaborators; Wasyl Odynsky, Josef Furman and Jura Skomatchuk, who were guards at SS forced labour camps, and Helmut Oberlander, who served as an interpreter for a Nazi mobile killing unit. All have been found by the Federal Court of Canada to have lied about their war time activities and fraudulently obtained Canadian citizenship. Fast and Oberlander have been denaturalized but not deported. The government has decided not to revoke the citizenship of Katriuk and Odynsky and we await the Cabinet’s decision on denaturalizing Furman and Skomatchuk

The fact that these men are elderly is no reason to shirk our duty to the victims or our fidelity to justice. We ought not to see them as they are today, but should remember them as the men they were 60 years ago when they helped carry out Hitler’s madness. To allow their actions to go unpunished would, indeed, give Nazism a posthumous victory. As the director of the American Office of Special Investigations charged with prosecuting Nazi enablers, Eli Rosenbaum, so eloquently stated, “It is especially cruel to require survivors of the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes … to share their adopted homeland with their former tormentors.”

With the realization that the sand in the hourglass has run out, the Canadian Jewish Congress is shifting its focus on Nazi enablers. We call on the Canadian government to do the same. Rather than searching for new cases to pursue, we would like to see all available resources put toward resolving the remaining cases expeditiously. There can be no more delays.

Many see this as primarily a Jewish issue. It is not. It is an issue of justice.

Moving forward, the CJC will now refocus much of its efforts to assist other Canadian communities, such as the Darfurian and Rwandan communities, who have been modern victims of genocide.  Clearly the Nazi enablers of yesterday are the role models for more contemporary genocidaires Like Oberlander, Fast, Katriuk and the others, they too hope to make Canada their safe haven. Sadly, some already have. We must ensure no others do. In this regard, CJC intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of an accused Rwandan war criminal, urging his swift deportation to face justice.

In order to give this clear message to future generations, Canada must act now on the last Nazi-era defendants.  Revoking their citizenship will send a powerful message that Canada will see at least some measure of justice finally done.

Click here for a copy of Canadian Guide to Programs and Services for Holocaust Survivors