Canada’s last known war-era Nazi gets reprieve

What was supposed to be the start of the final hearing in the 25-year effort to kick Helmut Oberlander out of Canada for Nazi war crimes was cancelled, Monday, after yet another legal battle forced immigration authorities to postpone his deportation hearing.

Oberlander, 96, was a member of a notorious Nazi killing squad in Ukraine and Russia during the Second World War and faces deportation.

He is believed to be the last Nazi war-time case in Canada.

The Immigration and Refugee Board scheduled a hearing for Monday against the retired businessman living in Waterloo, Ont., over whether he is ineligible to remain in Canada as a foreign national who committed crimes against humanity and lied about his past when applying for Canadian citizenship.

Instead, a board official announced the case was “administratively postponed.”

The IRB had no choice in the matter, after a Federal Court judge issued a stay of proceedings — at least until next month — at the request of Oberlander’s lawyer, to allow time for his legal appeal to be heard.

That delay motion was heard on Tuesday, by Justice Richard Southcott, who granted the postponement on Friday. Southcott left the door open for more time beyond the March 19 window, if needed.

Canada has been trying to deport Oberlander for decades because of his Nazi past, and lying about it when he immigrated to Canada. Four times his Canadian citizenship was stripped from him and three times that decision was overturned by the courts, in 2001, 2007, and 2012.

In 2019 the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear Oberlander’s appeal of the last revocation of his citizenship in 2017. He was found to have first entered Canada fraudulently in 1954 by failing to disclose his activities with the Nazis, tainting his subsequent citizenship application.