On Jan. 27, 1945 the Soviet army marched through the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp liberating the pitiful few that were left languishing in the camp. More than 60,000 were rounded up before the Soviet liberation and sent on a forced death march; 15,000 died on the trek west. On Sunday the United Nations marks Jan. 27 as its time to honour the victims of the Shoah.

Honouring the victims is important. Fidelity to justice in light of this monstrous evil though is essential. In this regard, Canada has to date failed the test. Sixty-two years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Canada has done little to bring Nazi-era defendants who lied about their past to justice.

In 1943, when it became obvious to Britain's war leader, Winston Churchill, that Jews and others were being slaughtered by the Nazis and their supporters, a pledge was made by the Allies that when the war ended those guilty of war crimes would be brought to book. "Let those who have hitherto not imbued their hands with innocent blood beware lest they join the ranks of the guilty," reads The Moscow Declaration. "For most assuredly the three Allied powers will pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth and will deliver them to their accusers in order that justice may be done."

It has been almost 65 years since the allied leaders spoke out, and for Canada this has been a particularly dishonourable period in our judicial history. It's estimated that more than 1,500 alleged Nazi enablers illegally entered Canada after the war and found a safe haven within our borders. For years Canada exercised what can only be described as "wilful blindness" in dealing with Nazi-era defendants who improperly gained Canadian citizenship by lying about their past.

Holocaust survivors in Canada have never forgotten the evil they experienced at the hands of Nazis. And the deaths of those not fortunate enough to have survived Hitler's "Final Solution" were brutal and unforgivable.

While the chances of finding and bringing to justice any new Nazi-era cases have now seemingly passed, there still remains a small opportunity for Canada to redeem itself. Thankfully, in recent years a few Nazi enablers have been brought before Canada's courts: Men like Vladimir Katriuk and Jacob Fast, who were Nazi collaborators; Wasyl Odynsky, Josef Furman and Jura Skomatchuk, who were guards at SS forced labour camps, and the likes of Helmut Oberlander, who served as an interpreter for a Nazi mobile killing unit. All have been found by the Federal Court of Canada to have lied about their war time activities. All are eligible for denaturalization and deportation. Yet all still inexplicably remain in Canada.

The fact that these men are elderly is no reason to shirk our duty to the victims or our fidelity to justice. We ought not to see them as they are today, but should remember them as the men they were 60 years ago when they helped carry out Hitler's madness. To allow their actions to go unpunished would, indeed, give Nazism a posthumous victory. As the director of the American Office of Special Investigations charged with prosecuting Nazi enablers, Eli Rosenbaum, so eloquently stated, "It is especially cruel to require survivors of the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes ? to share their adopted homeland with their former tormentors."

With the realization that the sand in the hourglass has run out, the Canadian Jewish Congress is shifting its focus on Nazi enablers. We call on the Canadian government to do the same. Rather than searching for new cases to pursue, we would like to see all available resources put toward resolving the six remaining cases expeditiously. There can be no more delays.

Many see this as primarily a Jewish issue. It is not. It's an issue of justice.

Moving forward, the CJC will now refocus much of its efforts to assist other Canadian communities (such as the Darfurian and Rwandan communities) who have been modern victims of genocide. Clearly the Nazi enablers of yesterday are the role models for the genocidaires of the 21st century. Like Oberlander, Fast, Katriuk and the others, they too hope to make Canada their safe haven. Sadly, some already have. We must ensure no others do.

In order to give this clear message to future generations, Canada must act now on the last six Nazi-era defendants. Carrying out their sentences will send a powerful message that, holding true to the Moscow Declaration of 65 years ago, Canada will see justice finally done.

-Bernie M. Farber is chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

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