NEWS - Federal Court Orders Disclosure of Redacted Portions of the Rodal Report
- CIIPS Team
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
CIIPS congratulates B'nai Brith Canada on a recent and significant win in obtaining more disclosure of a troubled episode in Canadian history.[1] B'nai Brith Canada v Minister of Canadian Heritage (2026 FC 1119) is a reminder that the international relations and national security exemptions in the Access to Information Act (ATIA) are not indefinite and that the discretion to withhold under section 15 must actually be exercised -- with the public's right to know its history properly weighed.
Background
B'nai Brith filed an access request to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) for an unredacted copy of the report "Nazi War Criminals in Canada: The Historical and Policy Setting from the 1940s to the Present," which was prepared by historian Alti Rodal for the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. The report is colloquially known as the Rodal Report; the commission is often known as the Deschênes Commission, after its Commissioner, Justice Jules Deschênes.
LAC withheld portions under sections 13, 15, 16(1)(c) and 23 of the ATIA. B'nai Brith complained to the Information Commissioner. During the investigation, LAC released most of the withheld material in February 2024 and abandoned its s. 16 and s. 23 claims. The Commissioner held the complaint well-founded.[2] Most of the report came out, but she allowed some redactions to remain under sections 13 and 15. Most of those concerned the involvement of a CIA front organization used to resettle suspected Nazis and Nazi collaborators after WWII, including into Canada, often with an eye toward using them against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Federal Court review focused on 22 redactions.
Section 13
LAC maintained only one redaction under section 13, concerning the views of a US official who was cited in the Rodal Report. According to an affidavit filed by the federal government, an official from Global Affairs Canada contacted the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. in the summer of 2024, and was told that the information should not be disclosed.
Justice Fothergill accepted this met the standard under section 13. However, he also noted: "I will nevertheless observe that the information withheld by the Minister pursuant to s 13 of the ATIA appears to be innocuous. Given the age and historical importance of the events described in the Rodal Report, Canada should consider whether to persist in its efforts to obtain the consent of the United States to its disclosure." (Para 29).
Section 15
LAC withheld 21 excerpts under s. 15. According to a government affidavit, "these details are still considered sensitive, despite the passage of time, both by the United States and the Canadian governments" (para 38). Disclosure, the affiant asserted, "would damage Canada's reputation as an American ally and harm future relationships with their government" (ibid). Much of the information, however, had been public for decades.
Justice Fothergill did not accept the government's argument and ordered the information disclosed. "A bald statement of ongoing 'tensions' between Canada and the United States is not a sufficient basis to refuse disclosure of very specific information related to efforts by the United States to resettle suspected Nazis and Nazi collaborators in Canada following World War II. The Rodal Report was written more than 40 years ago and concerned events that occurred more than 70 years ago" (paras 42-43). The Minister himself acknowledged that Canada's immigration system today is unrecognizable compared to what prevailed at the time. Justice Fothergill also had strong words on the exercise of discretion, finding it "did not properly weigh either the public's right to know or the historical importance of the information withheld" (para 60).
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