Group says Canada should help Holocaust denier on trial in Germany
OTTAWA – A civil liberties group is urging the Canadian government to end the “unjust and immoral’’ imprisonment of Monika Schaefer, a German-Canadian woman on trial in Germany for publishing videos denying the Holocaust.
The Ontario Civil Liberties Association says it’s concerned about Canada’s apparent unwillingness to come to the aid of Schaefer, who it describes as a Canadian “political prisoner’’ who was charged with a German criminal law that does not exist in Canada and is contrary to international law.
In a letter signed by executive director Joseph Hickey, the association calls on Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to act immediately, starting with appointing a consular observer and direct contact for Schaefer.
“We ask you both to do everything you can to save Monika Schaefer from her ongoing unjust and immoral imprisonment in Germany,’’ the letter says. “Every day that Canada refuses to act or acts ineffectively is a day that Ms. Schaefer spends in a foreign jail. Therefore, we express the required urgency.’’
Global Affairs Canada says consular services are being provided to a Canadian citizen who has been detained in Munich.
“To protect the privacy of the individual concerned, further details on this case cannot be released,’’ says spokeswoman Elizabeth Reid.
Schaefer ran for the Green party three times in Alberta’s Yellowhead riding before the party rejected her candidacy in 2015. The next year, she appeared in a YouTube video denying the Holocaust, which prompted the party to publicly condemn her views.
In the video titled, “Sorry mom, I was wrong about the Holocaust,’’ Schaefer says she was born and raised in Canada after her parents emigrated from Germany in the 1950s.