By Elad Benari

(A7) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday his administration is considering declassifying a list of suspected former Nazi collaborators who immigrated to Canada following the Second World War, AFP reported.

In 1986, an independent inquiry had looked into allegations that more than 800 Nazi war criminals slipped into the country, but their names were withheld.

“We have made sure that there are top public servants who are looking very carefully into the issue, including digging into the archives,” Trudeau said.

“They’re going to make recommendations to the relevant ministers,” he added.

Jewish groups, including B’nai Brith and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, have pressed for the release of the 1986 report.

Trudeau’s comments follow the recent diplomatic blunder in which Canada’s publicly celebrated a Ukrainian veteran who had fought for the Nazis during the war, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Ottawa.

House Speaker Anthony Rota hailed the man as a veteran soldier for Ukraine and a hero who had emigrated to Canada, without knowing his identity.

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Rota, a member of Trudeau’s Liberal party, resigned last week after the incident. Jewish groups had demanded an apology over the incident and while Rota did apologize, that was not enough to quiet down the calls on him to step down.

After Rota resigned, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized and said, “For all of us who were present to have unknowingly recognized this individual was a terrible mistake and a violation of the memory of those who suffered grievously at the hands of the Nazi regime.”