The Hunka Affair was five months ago. Where the hell is the Deschênes Commission Report?
The Prime Minister has made promises he has not kept.
Everyone in Canada knows the story by now, whether you’re Jewish, Ukrainian, both, or neither. Boy grows up in Ukraine during WW2, boy joins Waffen SS of his own free will, boy moves to Canada after the war with 2,000 other 14th Waffen SS Grenadier veterans.
These 2,000 Nazi boys all have their identities protected by every federal government since the 1980s, and they all live long and happy lives free of culpability for their horrific crimes. All except for Yaroslav Hunka, who finally received public scrutiny at the age of 98.
But Peter Savaryn, who served as the Vice-President of Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, was the Chancellor of the University of Alberta from 1982 to 1986, and was awarded the Order of Canada under Mulroney’s Premiership in 1987? He died in 2017, with his service in the Waffen SS not exposed until last year.
There are thousands of Nazis, freely allowed into Canada by the government of the day. Their names are in the Deschênes Commission Report of 1986, but the second part of the report which named individuals was classified by Mulroney.
No Prime Minister, Liberal or Conservative, has ever declassified the Deschênes Report. Thousands of Nazis have escaped justice in Canada, and may still be alive to this day, hiding among us in plain sight.
Before the war crimes apologists appear, the 14th Waffen SS Grenadier is confirmed to have committed numerous massacres, and are suspected in further incidents. In the Huta Pieniacka massacre alone, the 14th Waffen SS Grenadier slaughtered between 700 and 1,500 innocent Poles.
Beyond the Pidkamin and Palikrowy massacres, this division is theorized by German historian Dieter Pohl, based on historical records, of having assisted in the round-up of Jews in the Ukrainian city of Brody.
But whether or not every single one of the 2,000 14th Waffen SS Grenadier veterans actively participated in each of those war crimes is immaterial based on the October 1st, 1946 verdict of the Nuremburg Trials.
International law clearly sets out that any individual, who willingly joined or remained a member of the SS after September 1st, 1939 despite knowledge of their crimes, is legally a war criminal.
There is no reason we should protect any of their names from public scrutiny. Indeed, on October 4th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said public servants were evaluating the declassification of the Deschênes Commission Report.
And yet, here we are in March, not a single Nazi exposed, a simple task neglected and ignored. With all due respect to our Prime Minister, I have a simple question for him: “What the hell?”
Yes, as a Jew, I am well aware that both Canadian Jews and the global Jewish community have had larger concerns since October 7th. Obviously the Hunka Affair has not been my sole concern since I wrote my National Post column last September.
But surely, months later in March, the Israel-Hamas War cannot still be an excuse? Does the Trudeau government believe that our memory as Jews is so short that we would forget thousands of literal Nazis hiding in our country?
I certainly haven’t forgotten about the Hunka Affair, and neither have journalists, considering I’m still going on shows like Canada Tonight on CBC to discuss new revelations about involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office in the scandal.
I sincerely struggle to come up with legitimate reasons for Trudeau ignoring his promise to declassify the Deschênes Report. Surely, surely, the report would not stay hidden through countless Canadian Premierships unless there was something both Conservatives and Liberals alike were afraid to reveal.
There are always miscellaneous rumblings from staff on Parliament Hill about why the government does do X, or doesn’t do Y, but I rarely find them a reliable indicator. In the case of the Deschênes Report, every source in the Trudeau government I’ve discussed this with has less of a clue than I do, and that’s terrifying.
Is it possible that there is nothing they’re afraid of releasing in the Report? Could it be that the reason the Trudeau government hasn’t done so is because they simply don’t care? As a Jewish Liberal, that thought has festered in my mind as the months have passed.
I don’t know whether the delay in releasing the names of these Nazis is due to maliciousness or neglect, but regardless of diagnosis the symptoms are the same. The longer I wait, the angrier I become, and my patience wears ever-thinner.
Prime Minister, this has taken years longer than it should have, so I will put it plainly to you. Declassify and release the Deschênes Report, and do it now. Stop providing cover and protection for Nazis who slaughtered innocent people en-masse.
It’s time, Prime Minister, for you to finally do the right thing. Release the names of the men who murdered our families. Bring us the justice we deserve!