CIA-Backed Resettlement of Alleged Nazis in Canada Unveiled in Declassified Report

A newly released, nearly fully unredacted version of historian Alti Rodal’s investigation shows the CIA supplied falsified documents and recommended alleged Nazi collaborators for immigration to Canada after World War II. In March 1954, former RCMP deputy commissioner W.H. The report names CIA officer George McManus as the U.S. representative who pressed Canadian officials to admit these applicants, and Oscar Holtz of USAREUR as the officer who re-presented a rejected individual with a new identity and a list of 35 others who entered Canada that year.

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The operation was part of the post-war “ratline” system that helped Nazis escape Europe. The Counter-Intelligence Corps, which recruited Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie for U.S. intelligence, also created false documentation for these resettlements. CIA sites such as the Defector Reception Center (cryptonym CABEZONE) and Camp King were used to debrief and re-home the individuals.

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• ? 40 immigrants accepted in 1953 on U.S. recommendation.

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• 35 individuals listed by Holtz as having entered Canada in 1953.

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• 52 additional applicants advanced by USAREUR were rejected by the RCMP on security grounds.

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• A standing provision allowed up to 100 such entries per year; a censored line hints some were deemed inadmissible to the United States yet still sent to Canada.

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• Kelly testified that Canadian officials could not independently verify applicants’ wartime backgrounds beyond U.S. information.

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• Canada’s Information Commissioner ruled that releasing the Deschênes Commission’s second-part list could damage international relations.

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• The federal government did not appeal a September Federal Court order mandating publication of the previously redacted sections; the Maple received the copy on October 8.

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• Both Canadian identity-and-culture minister Marc Miller and the CIA declined comment.

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Historian Jared McBride, expert witness in the legal action that forced release of the report, condemned the handling of the matter, calling the lack of transparency “the lack of self-respect amazes me” and questioning why high-value individuals would be sent to Canada at all.

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• “This isn’t old news; this is new,” — Jared McBride

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• “Not only did the Canadian government know at the time that it was being deceived by U.S. intelligence, but Canadian officials learned of this again in the 1980s,” — Jared McBride

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• “The full history of the DRC and, to an extent, Camp King — where these individuals were debriefed and given new lives — remains under-researched,” — Jared McBride

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• One line in the unredacted sections remains censored, leaving unclear why the United States would reject certain known collaborators while still facilitating their Canadian entry.

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• The second part of the Deschênes Commission’s final report, which lists identified war criminals, remains secret, creating a gap in public knowledge of specific individuals.

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• Requests for U.S. archival material by John Tipton (former GAO senior evaluator) were never confirmed as fulfilled, and the Rodal Report notes no formal request was made by the Canadian government.

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• No response has been received from the CIA regarding whether all relevant records have been disclosed.

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McBride and other scholars are urging both governments to fully declassify records related to the clandestine resettlement program, including documents on the DRC, Camp King, and the identities of the individuals admitted to Canada. Continued legal and parliamentary pressure may prompt further releases, though the extent of undisclosed material remains uncertain.

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