On Feb. 10, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada published its decision on whether Library and Archives Canada was justified to block the release of the full, un-redacted 1986 report on suspected Nazi war criminals and collaborators who came to Canada after the Second World War.

The government archives department claims it can't release everything, because Canada received some key information after the war from an allied foreign government—who wouldn't like it published, even all these years later—and doing so could jeopardize Canada's international relations. Plus, releasing RCMP file numbers could be dangerous.

The OIC ruling suggested that B'nai Brith Canada, who has been lobbying for decades to unlock the Canada's murky wartime immigration policies, should take the case to the Federal Court of Canada. And that's just what B'nai Brith Canada has done. On Jan. 21, lawyers for the Jewish human rights group filed documents asking for a judicial review of keeping the so-called "Deschenes Report" secret.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Sam Goldstein, former legal counsel to B'nai Brith Canada, and by historian and author Howard Margolian, a former war crimes investigator who thinks Canada let in relatively few hardcore Nazis back then—but wants the names released as well as their entire case files. Related links

• Read B’nai Brith’s legal application to the Federal Court for a judicial review of Ottawa’s refusal to release all the classified war criminals documents. Read the Office of the Information Commissioner’s ruling on B’nai Brith’s appeal.
• Read how Pierre Trudeau opposed prosecuting Nazi war criminals who had entered Canada–revealed in the most recent batch of 1986 Deschenes Commission war crimes documents, released by Ottawa in February 2024, in The CJN.
• Hear why B’nai Brith Canada and historian Alti Rodal continued to push for all the files and names to be released, on The CJN Daily from Oct. 2023 and from September 2024.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Since 2023, the Toronto District School Board has been working on an updated strategy to combat several categories of hate and racism in its nearly 600 schools. The update will cover hatred against more than a half dozen minority communities, including Black, Asian, Trans, Indigenous, and Jewish-but when the board suddenly added anti-Palestinian racism to the list last summer, hundreds of Jewish community members including Jewish parents, students and staff have slammed the school board for ignoring rampant Jew-hatred since Oct. 7 in classrooms, halls and field trips. Now, after consulting with 125 Jewish students and with members from 35 diverse Jewish community groups, the authors of a new report—”Affirming Jewish Identities and Addressing Antisemitism”—are tabling it in front of a committee of school board trustees on the evening of Feb. 12. The trustees are being asked to receive the report, after which send it along to the entire board for approval the following week. The report includes many suggestions, such as beefing up training about Jews beyond Holocaust education; making sure Jews are part of diversity, equity and inclusion work; recognizing anti-Zionism as a new form of antisemitism; and hiring more Jewish professionals for senior management positions. While some Jewish leaders are praising the report, others feel the whole concept is flawed by the board’s focus on identity, and want geopolitics removed from schools entirely. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Shelley Laskin, a trustee representing the heavily Jewish neighbourhood of Eglinton-Lawrence-St. Paul’s, who calls the meeting a historic moment for the school board; and also by Tamara Gottlieb, co-founder of the Jewish Educators and Families Association (JEFA), who has serious reservations about the report.

Related links

• Read the proposed Toronto District School Board antisemitism policy documents and the detailed report being presented Wednesday Feb. 12, 2025.
• Learn more about the controversy that erupted last summer over proposed anti-racism strategies at the Toronto District School Board since Oct. 7, in The CJN.
• Hear how Jewish students at Toronto District School Board schools have experienced antisemitism and anti-Israel hate after Oct. 7, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Over the last six months, residents of Whitby, Ont., have discovered multiple Nazi swastikas around towbn, including carved into the walls of their main library's washroom and burned with chemicals onto a popular soccer field. Police are investigating, but no one's been caught.

The antisemitic incidents have shocked the local Jewish community of 1,000 families, members of which say, by and large, that most people feel relatively safe in Whitby. They're also grateful for the latest support from the mayor, town council, Durham regional police and local faith groups.

In response to the events, last week, the Town of Whitby voted to ask Ottawa to ban the Nazi swastika, also pledging to develop better internal protocols to handle future hate symbols when discovered. The town's motions have had a domino effect, and politicians in neighbouring communities are taking notice. Durham Region councillors will consider the same swastika ban on Feb. 12, while the Pickering will consider it at the end of the month.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Rabbi Tzali Borenstein, spiritual leader of Chabad of Durham; Whitby town councillor Chris Leahy, who brought the original motions forward; Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy; and professor Tessa Troughton, whose child has witnessed Nazi salutes at her local high school, including students mimicking Elon Musk.

What we talked about:

• Read the motions passed by Whitby Town Council on Monday Feb. 3, 2025 to a) support the call to ban the swastika and b) to develop a protocol to react better to cases of antisemitism when municipal staff discover it.
• Learn more about B’nai Brith Canada’s campaign to ban the display of the Nazi swastika by modifying the criminal code.
• Hear more from Durham District school trustee Emma Cunningham about antisemitism in Whitby, on The CJN Daily’s political panel, from Dec. 2024.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)