Dear Editor:

Re: Montreal Gazette Editorial, Sept. 23, 2002

Rather unusual for our group to be expressing favorable remarks to a Southam newspaper. However, we must say that the above noted article was uncharacteristically fair in its treatment of the topic of so-called war criminals in Canada. What made it fair was, firstly, the absence of the revved-up rhetoric about Nazi war criminals "under every bed" that marks the approach of other newspapers in your chain. Secondly, the article actually calls for a reassessment of the process that led to the gross miscarriage of justice against Helmut Oberlander, and by extension, against Mr. Wasyl Odynsky and other victims of the Liberal government's misdirected, mean-spirited and legally flawed denaturalization and deportation policy. Your editorial writer, though, could have revealed precisely which lobby led Canadians into this calamitous policy in the first place. Want to take us up on this point?

Eugene Harasymiw, LL.B.
Chair Civil Liberties Standing Committee
Alberta Ukrainian Self-Reliance League
10611 - 110 Ave.
Edmonton, AB T5H 1H7
fax (780) 457-5170