Feds won't commit to cutting alleged Nazi collaborators' names from Victims of Communism memorial

 

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s office said a review of the memorial is "ongoing" to ensure it will be "compatible with Canadian values on democracy and human rights.‘’

The Liberal government won’t make a firm commitment to keep the names of alleged Nazi collaborators and fascists off the Victims of Communism memorial to be unveiled in downtown Ottawa.

But Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s office told the Ottawa Citizen that it will make sure the memorial’s commemorative elements will remain compatible with Canadian values.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a holocaust education organization, wrote St-Onge on Oct. 10 to request the federal government make a firm and public commitment that the names of more than 300 individuals with suspected ties to the Nazis or fascist groups aren’t put on the memorial. The organization has yet to receive a response.

The memorial, which is located near the corner of Wellington and Bay streets, is supposed to honour those who suffered under communism.

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

Feds won't commit to cutting alleged Nazi collaborators' names from Victims of Communism memorial