| February 25, 1998 |
Dear Ms. McLellan:
In my letters to you of February 6 and 20, 1998, I brought to your attention the existence of horrific war crimes committed by Japanese during World War II, and by Jews immediately before, during, and immediately after World War II; and as well the existence of horrific war crimes being committed by Jews today. Also, in the above letter to you of February 6, I provided summary statements by the leading authority on the Jewish Holocaust � Raul Hilberg � of the almost non-existent role that Ukrainians played in the Holocaust; and I refer you to the report of the Desch�nes Commission for conclusions concerning the absence of wrongdoing by Ukrainian armed forces during World War II.
Up until now, I have been stressing the lack of proportion between who committed the great war crimes falling within living memory, and who your Justice Department has singled out for prosecution. I have portrayed your work as deviating from the honorable task of prosecuting for war crimes men who are in their prime to the shameful task of harassing for war misdemeanors men with one foot in the grave.
In the present letter, I take that line of reasoning one step further, and ask whether in singling out Ukrainians for prosecution, you might not be in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
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Equality Rights EQUALITY BEFORE AND UNDER LAW AND EQUAL PROTECTION AND BENEFIT OF LAW / Affirmative action programs. 15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. ... The ideal embodied in the section is that a law expressed to bind all should not, because of irrelevant personal differences, have a more burdensome or less beneficial impact on one than another. ... Discrimination exists where a distinction, whether intentional or not but based on grounds relating to personal characteristics of the individual or group, has the effect of imposing burdens, obligations or disadvantages not imposed upon others.... ... Equality before the law at a minimum requires that no individual or group of individuals be treated more harshly than another under the law. ... Discrimination is a distinction based on grounds relating to personal characteristics of the individual or group which has the effect of imposing burdens, obligations or disadvantages on such individual or group not imposed on others. |