Canadian Parliament Acting to Facilitate the Prosecution of War Criminals Living in Canada

A special joint committee of both houses of the Canadian Parliament drafting a national constitution has accepted a recommendation by the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) that would facilitate the prosecution of Nazi war criminals living in Canada. The CJC also had input on other matters covered in the constitution which is to be presented to the full Parliament for ratification, although not all of its recommendations were adopted.

The war crimes clause would prevent a war criminal from claiming immunity if the acts charged were not crimes at the time and place where they were committed. The CJC recommendation, invoking the United Nations International Covenant, permits prosecution of a war criminal by stating that “any person charged with an offense has the right not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission unless at the time of the act or omission it constituted an offense under Canadian or international law or was criminal according to general principles of law recognized by the community of nations.”

The joint committee rejected a CJC proposal that reflected fear that total freedom of speech might countenance hate propaganda. It accepted a suggestion by the CJC and many other groups guaranteeing rights and freedoms subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be domonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

The drafters basically followed the legal rights clause recommended by Profs. Maxwell Cohen and Irwin Cotler, representing the CJC, which secured every person’s right against “unreasonable search and seizure” and arbitrary detention or imprisonment. A suggestion by the CJC and others, that the choice of language schooling as between French and English for children be extended to non-citizens as well as citizens, was rejected.