Canadian justice minister meets with UCC delegation; Stage set for further discussions on denaturalization/deportation (09/26/99)

Canadian justice minister meets with UCC delegation

Stage set for further discussions on denaturalization/deportation

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - An official delegation from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), led by its president, Eugene Czolij, met with Canadian Justice Minister and Attorney General Anne McLellan on August 25 in Edmonton at the federal ministry's regional office in the Alberta provincial capital, and secured a promise that a further discussion would be convened in Ottawa, the nation's capital. Details of the meeting are just now being released.

According to a UCC report sent to its member-organizations on September 9, the one-hour-45-minute meeting consisted of a discussion of the government's policy of denaturalization and deportation; an examination of a proposal to establish a Canadian Museum of Genocide; and a rekindling of the government's sensitivity to the Ukrainian Canadian community's ongoing efforts to secure redress for the internment of Ukrainian Canadians during and after World War I.

Reached at his law offices in Montréal on September 20, Mr. Czolij told The Weekly "I was pleased that the UCC had an opportunity to meet with a senior minister to discuss various issues of concern to the Ukrainian Canadian community. It was a constructive meeting, and we had our opportunity to state our case clearly."

The UCC president added, "I appreciate the fact that the minister familiarized herself with the material that we transmitted to her and greatly appreciate her readiness to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the UCC."

Mr. Czolij explained that UCC position papers on matters of concern were sent to the minister a week prior to the meeting, and that Ms. McLellan proposed that another encounter take place in Ottawa.

Other members of the UCC delegation included Adrian Boyko, UCC vice-president and chair of its Government Relations Committee; Maria Szkambara, chair of the UCC's Justice Committee on Denaturalization and Deportation (JCDD): and Andrew Hladyshevsky, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko.

Through the minister's constituency office, The Weekly confirmed that Paul Vickery, head of the Justice Department's War Crimes Unit; Mark Berlin, Ms. McLellan's departmental policy advisor in Ottawa; and Rosemary Tremblay, the minister's special assistant in Edmonton, also attended.

Reached in Vancouver while on a business trip, Mr. Boyko told The Weekly, "When issues of concern are raised, we want to have an ability to go to the government, this meeting proves that we can do so. This is the first step in a series of meetings that will place our agenda before the ministers responsible."

Mr. Boyko was said he encouraged by the minister's willingness to extend the meeting far beyond its originally foreseen 45-minute time limit. "Minister McLellan had a federal Supreme Court justices' conference to attend in Edmonton that same day, so the fact that she cut into her schedule to hear us out is all the more impressive," Mr. Boyko said.

Mr. Boyko said the justice minister offered to bring the community's concerns to the attention of other senior ministers, in particular Heritage Minister Sheila Copps (over the issue of a genocide museum) and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy (on the issues of internment redress and relations with Ukraine).

Mr. Czolij explained that he learned in a letter received earlier this year from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's office that Mr. Axworthy had been assigned the internment brief.

Denaturalization/deportation up front

Mr. Czolij said the principal focus of the meeting was the government's denaturalization and deportation policy.

Mr. Czolij said he summarized the UCC's position in a special brief he prepared, stating that "the Canadian government should not resort to denaturalization and deportation proceedings to deal with the issue of Canadians suspected of war crimes during the second world war since: a) [these proceedings] are inadequate to determine a person's guilt or innocence as a war criminal; and b) [these proceedings] suppose therefore that another country will address this issue in Canada's place."

Mr. Czolij also contended that cases could not be properly prosecuted because the government's relevant records had been destroyed and that for many immigrants in the late 1940s admission into Canada was discretionary.

Mr. Czolij reiterated the UCC's position that Canadian citizens suspected of crimes should be tried in criminal courts, in accordance with Canadian criminal law with Canadian standards of evidence.

The UCC president quoted a statement he read at the meeting: "Despite the announcement by the previous Justice Minister of Canada [Allan Rock, in January 1995] that the 'key criterion' for instituting denaturalization and deportation proceedings against individuals suspected of war crimes during World War II is 'the existence of some individual criminality,' in four recent denaturalization and deportation cases the Federal Court of Canada concluded that the government did not provide [such] evidence."

Mr. Czolij said he cited the decisions in the Peteris Vitols, Johann Dueck, Vladimir Katriuk and Eduards Podins cases.

Mr. Czolij also drew on the arguments of the late John Sopinka's presentation on behalf of the UCC to Deschênes Commission of Inquiry into the presence of war criminals in Canada in May 1986.

The submission reads: "At the end of the war, between 1 and 2 million Ukrainian people were in [displaced persons'] camps throughout Europe. As a result of the Yalta accords, hundreds of thousands of these were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union, only to be liquidated or deported to Siberia. The only hope of those designated for 'repatriation' was to [assume] new identities ... It would be simply monstrous to institute deportation proceedings against such persons merely because of a misrepresentation on their landing documents."

Mr. Czolij expressed the Ukrainian community's displeasure that the country is being labelled as a safe haven for World War II-era war criminals when the evidence does not support such a label.

Mr. Boyko related that Ms. Szkambara said the government policy has resulted in an appearance of two standards of justice - one for citizens by birth and another for immigrants.

Ms. Szkambara also contended that, as a result of the policy, people entitled to restitution for being exploited as slave laborers by the Nazis have become afraid to come out and be interviewed on the subject.

Mr. Boyko told The Weekly, "Minister McLellan was very impressed with Ms. Szkambara's presentation and showed she is very sensitive to making certain the standards of justice are applied equally."

On the other hand, the UCC vice-president said the minister would not retreat on the use of immigration and citizenship proceedings to try war crimes cases. He related the minister's contention that the government feels it must stick to its adopted method, which allows prosecutors to deal with cases expeditiously when they are convinced individuals had committed atrocities.

However, Mr. Czolij said the minister was gracious and attentive to the UCC's arguments. "Ms. McLellan could certainly have simply stated that we must agree to disagree and left it at that, but the minister has provided for further consultation on the matter, and this is very positive," the UCC president said.

Collateral effects of the policy

Mr. Czolij said he showed Ms. McLellan a photo of the defaced facade of the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Toronto (sprayed with hate graffiti on June 20), and said the conduct of the government's policy has had negative effects on the community's reputation in Canada.

Mr. Boyko said Ms. McLellan assured the delegation that she would respond to and condemn such attacks. He said the minister offered to send a letter to the community condemning these acts of vandalism and stating the government's opposition to racism in any form.

Mr. Boyko said he pointed out that the policy appears to be targeting Ukrainians or people from Ukraine. "Out of the 14 cases initiated, there are three ethnic Ukrainians, Vladimir Katriuk, Serge Kisluk and Walter Odynsky; one part Ukrainian, Wassily Bogutin; two ethnic Germans from Ukraine, Johann Dueck and Helmut Oberlander; this certainly gives the appearance of disproportionate targeting," he said.

Mr. Boyko said the minister assured the delegation that Ukrainians are not being targeted and offered to have subsequent meetings with officials of her department "to place things into a proper context."

Mr. Berlin, the minister's departmental policy advisor, was quoted in the August 25-September 7 issue of Ukrainian News (Edmonton) as saying Ms. McLellan is "committed to an ongoing dialogue over the issue [of denaturalization and deportation]" and averring that the initial meeting constituted "a very significant step."

Mr. Czolij said the Ottawa meeting's agenda was to include a discussion of the expertise used by the Canadian government in prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity cases, and the manner in which the Ukrainian Canadian community can have input on the selection of these experts.

Mr. Boyko said he was heartened by the minister's fair-mindedness in this area. "Providing that the government is armed with our side of the story, they can make reasoned judgments before they begin pursuing cases against people. We have to assist them in avoiding fishing expeditions," he said.

Mr. Czolij said: "Everybody walked out of the meeting with a sense that the minister wants to further explore the issue."

Upturn in relations

Mr. Boyko said the August 25 encounter with the minister was made possible by a collegial relationship with Ms. McLellan enjoyed by Mr. Hladyshevsky.

"They attended various non-Ukrainian functions together, since Mr. Hladyshevsky is a fellow lecturer in law at the University of Alberta," Mr. Boyko said. "The meeting had been in the works since May and in July it became a certainty," he added.

He said the meeting was a welcome change. "Over the last four years we have not had the closeness we once enjoyed in dealings with the government," Mr. Boyko said, "the relationship appears to have broken down."

"This gives us hope that this minister will be responsive," the UCC vice president added.

Mr. Boyko said that he'd outlined the history of the UCC's relations with the Canadian government to the minister, and prompted agreement that relations between the two sides need "rebuilding."

Mr. Boyko told The Weekly that a low point was reached during Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's recent trip to Ukraine, when no provision had been made for participation by a UCC representative.

"Since past UCC President Oleh Romaniw had already signed up for the mission, for the sake of public relations we tried to make the best of that, but throughout the trip, the government never acknowledged that Mr. Romaniw was there representing the UCC," Mr. Boyko said.

On August 8 Ms. McLellan attended Ukrainian Day celebrations at the Ukrainian Heritage Village outside Edmonton. Former Progressive Conservative MP Dr. Alex Kindy used the occasion of receiving the UCC Alberta Provincial Council's Michael Luchkovich Award to direct critical comments at the government's conduct of war crimes prosecutions.

"At the August 25 meeting," Mr. Boyko said, "I pointed out that historically we've had good relations." The UCC official said he stressed the importance of "Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau's announcement of his government's adoption of the multiculturalism policy at our congress in 1971."

"To my mind, Ms. McLellan demonstrated that she would like to be the minister that would like to re-establish our relations with the government, and assist in making contacts that would enable us to discuss those issues that are out of her purview," Mr. Boyko said.

Mr. Czolij concurred, saying "Minister McLellan said she would encourage other ministers to have open lines of communication with the UCC."

Mr. Boyko saw the meeting as a reminder to the broader community to step up their activism.

"We as a community must continue to educate MPs and ministers about who we are, and this appears to have been something we've forgotten to do over recent years. Individuals and organizations have to persist in pushing our case," the UCC executive said.

| Home Page |