OHMS
no    
postage
required

I OPPOSE the denaturalization and deportation of Canadians who obtained their Citizenship half a century ago. This process is unjust and a violation of the principles of fundamental justice.

In cases where evidence of war crimes or crimes against humanity is uncovered against such Canadians, the Government of Canada should prosecute them before Canadian courts of criminal justice.

Name __________________________________
Address ________________________________
_______________________________________
Postal Code _____________________________
Signature _______________________________

To:

The Honourable Denis Coderre, PC, MP
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

The Right Honourable Jean Chretien
Prime Minister of Canada
Room 309-S, Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Your Member of Parliament
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

The above postcard was issued by the Justice Committee of the Ukrainian Canadain Congress in August 2002 to protest the denaturalization and deportation policy of the Federal government. It is designed to be sent to Denis Coderre, Jean Chretien and/or your Member of Parliament. Readers are urged to copy-and-paste the above message and send it to their preferred destination.

A covering letter which may be handed out to people to familiarize themselves with the d&d issue and encourage them to sign the postcard is appended below.

In Canada, the Nazi-War-Criminal craze started in 1985 with the establishment of the Deschenes Commission. This was seven years after the establishment of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in the United States, which perpetrated "fraud upon the court" to obtain the denaturalization and deportation of John Demjanjuk in 1981 and 1986 respectively.

In 1987, Justice Minister John Hnatyshyn trumpeted that the Mulroney government had opted for a made-in-Canada solution by creating a Canadian War Crimes Unit to prosecute alleged war criminals in criminal courts of law. These utilize rigorous rules of evidence and a criterion of "beyond a reasonable doubt" for conviction. Not a single criminal case was successful.

In 1995, Justice Minister Allan Rock switched to the American OSI strategy of denaturalization and deportation (d&d), but claimed that no cases would be initiated unless there was compelling evidence of individual criminality by the accused. These are civil cases, which utilize lax rules of evidence and a criterion of "on a balance of probabilities" for conviction. War crimes is no longer the issue. The victim is accused of obtaining Canadian citizenship fraudulently. The prosecution contends that the accused must have been interviewed by a visa control officer, who must have asked questions to which the accused did not reply truthfully. Despite the fact that there is no evidence in this regard, some judges accept the contention of the prosecution that such a "process was in place". Other judges do not.

On March 02, 2001, Judge Andrew MacKay ruled that "on a balance of probabilities" Wasyl Odynsky must have lied when he came to Canada over 50 years ago. On May 01, 2002, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Denis Coderre, recommended that his citizenship be revoked by a Cabinet Special Committee of Council. Olya Odynsky found out about this recommendation on May 23 and alerted the Ukrainian community on May 27. A letter writing campaign was started, such that when the Committee of Council met on June 12, 2002, certain members of the Committee asked that this item on the agenda be tabled until the next meeting on June 19, 2002. By that time, Committee members had received thousands of letters of protest, such that Denis Coderre decided to review the whole d&d issue in detail before reconsidering the revocation of Mr. Odynsky's citizenship.

Over 200 articles on the Wasyl Odynsky and Helmut Oberlander cases are archived at
/tp/odynsky/odynsky.html

Information on the Vladimir Katriuk case is archived at http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/pakistan/83/katriuk/katriukverdict.html