The Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, often referred to as the Deschênes Commission, was established by the government of Canada in February 1985 to investigate claims that Canada had become a haven for Nazi war criminals. Headed by retired Quebec Superior Court judge Jules Deschênes, the commission delivered its report in December 1986 after almost two years of hearings.
In 1985, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney ordered an investigation into the presence of Nazi war criminals in Canada after a member of Parliament claimed infamous Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele might be in the country.
The establishment of the commission put the Canadian Jewish community at odds with the Baltic- and Ukrainian-Canadian communities. The Baltic and Ukrainian groups objected to the use of evidence from the Soviet Union and other Iron Curtain countries.
The commission compiled a list of 774 potential war criminals in Canada. 341 of them never landed or resided in Canada, 21 had landed in Canada but had left for another country, 86 had died in Canada, and 4 could not be located. The commission found prima facie evidence against 20 individuals; another 169 cases were not acted upon because of a lack of access to overseas evidence or time constraints. Late in 1986, the commission turned the names of the 20 people over to the government with recommendations on how to proceed in each case.
The commission also recommended changes to criminal and citizenship law. In June 1987, the House of Commons passed legislation that allowed for the prosecution of foreign war crimes in Canadian courts and the deportation of naturalized war criminals.
The new criminal law set a high bar for proving complicity in war crimes. Canadian prosecutors pressed charges against at least four men on allegations of participation in Holocaust war crimes. One case ended in acquittal; two cases were dropped when prosecutors had trouble obtaining overseas evidence; the fourth case was stayed due to the health of the defendant.
The government has been somewhat more successful in civil proceedings against accused wartime criminals. Since 1998, courts have found that six men, all Ukrainian, misrepresented their wartime activities and could have their citizenship revoked. Another seven people subject to deportation or citizenship-revocation procedures have died.
However, the Cabinet has yet to revoke the citizenship of any of the men.