Victims of Communism memorial could damage Canada's reputation if Nazi collaborators included in those being honoured: documents

 

The memorial is supposed to honour those who suffered under communism and will include a wall of remembrance.

The Victims of Communism memorial to be unveiled in Ottawa next year has the potential to damage Canada’s reputation and cause tensions with foreign governments if Nazi collaborators are inadvertently honoured on the monument.

The warnings from Canadian diplomats in 2021 foreshadow some of the criticism the federal government faced in September when MPs gave two standing ovations to a Ukrainian Canadian veteran who served in Hitler’s Waffen SS. That move was met with international ridicule and anger.

The Victims of Communism memorial is supposed to honour those who suffered under communism and will include a wall of remembrance, which will allow 600 names of individuals, groups or events to be listed.

But concerns have been raised by Jewish organizations that names of eastern Europeans who collaborated with the Nazis in the Holocaust have been put forward in an attempt to whitewash their past.

Government officials have already identified some individuals who served with the Waffen SS among those names submitted, according to the federal documents obtained by this newspaper under the Access to Information law. Other alleged Nazi collaborators associated with the memorial have also been identified by the Department of Canadian Heritage, but the exact number is censored from the records.  (more...)

Victims of Communism memorial could damage Canada's reputation if Nazi collaborators included in those being honoured: documents