Helmut Oberlander will never get on a plane and be deported from Canada despite being a former member of a Nazi killing squad during the Second World War — and the government is wasting time trying — his lawyer told his deportation hearing.
“There’s kind of a ghoulish kind of spectre hanging over this proceeding because it’s not expected that he is going to live a long period of time,” Barbara Jackman said at an Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) hearing, Wednesday.
“Are they ever going to be able to put him on a plane? Or are they just using this to — I don’t want to use the word persecution, that’s too heavy of a word — but are they using this to merely harass him until the end of his life?
“You don’t bring someone like Mr. Oberlander to a hearing when you know that the likelihood of being able to ever carry through the result of the hearing, if he is not successful, is not going to happen.
“It’s a waste of resources. It’s harmful to him and his family. It carries with it a stigma that has been unfairly put on him.”
Jackman said trying to deport Canada’s last-known wartime Nazi, now a frail, 97-year-old retired businessman in Waterloo, Ont., should end because it is cruel, unfair, and unacceptable to Canadians.
“There is no public interest in trying to get an answer at this point on a person whose life is nearly over,” Jackman said.
In response, Angela Marinos, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, said Jackman’s characterization of the case is backwards.
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Canada’s last wartime Nazi is never getting on a plane for deportation, his lawyer tells hearing
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