Ottawa, Canada – Former Nazis Stripped of Canadian Citizenship

Ottawa, Canada – Two men who hid their pasts as wartime Nazi collaborators have been stripped of their Canadian citizenship by the federal cabinet.

Helmut Oberlander and Jacob Fast now face deportation hearings.

It's the second time Oberlander's citizenship has been revoked. He lost it first in 2001, but the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the ruling in 2004 and ordered cabinet to reconsider.

In 2000, a court ruled that when Oberlander came to Canada in 1954, he concealed his membership in a Nazi extermination squad which conducted mass executions of Jews and other civilians in the former Soviet Union. He was a translator for what was essentially a mobile killing outfit.

In 2003, the court said Fast hid his German citizenship when he came to Canada in 1947 and that he had collaborated with a Nazi security police unit in Ukraine which arrested and executed Jews.

Supporters of the two men have long argued that they were forced to collaborate and never participated in the actual killings.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said due process was followed. "It is now time to move forward,'' he said.

He said the government takes war crimes cases seriously. "Canada will not become a safe haven for anyone who has been involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.''

Since 1977, Canada has stripped 54 people of their citizenship, although only seven of those cases related to the Second World War. [CTV]