The Jewish Tribune, April 11, 1996 (7)

Deportation Closer for Zundel
By Gil Kezwer

TORONTO - Twice-convicted Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel inched
closer to being deported when the Federal Court of Canada in
Ottawa rejected his application for a stay of proceedings in
his bid for Canadian citizenship.

As a result of the ruling, Zundel appeared last week in Ottawa
before a panel of the Security Intelligence Review Committee
(SIRC). The committee will review a finding by the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) - Canada's equivalent of
the FBI - that the Toronto man is a threat to national
security.

Hate crime experts will testify at the hearing, which Zundel
said could last "several weeks." He will be represented by
Victoria, B.C. lawyer Doug Christie, who has specialized in
defending accused Nazi war criminals and Holocaust deniers.
Zundel claimed a "Jewish conspiracy" was behind the SIRC
report, and said he would "fight to the finish" for his right
to citizenship.

Ironically the investigation by CSIS and examination by the
SIRC were prompted by Zundel's application in October 1993 for
Canadian citizenship. The 57-year-old native of the town of
Calmbach in Germany's Black Forest has lived in Canada as a
landed immigrant since 1958. His first application for
Canadian citizenship in January 1968 was rejected. The
immigration Act, since amended, did not require a reason to be
cited in denying the application.

Under Canada's current Immigration Act, the SIRC committee
must review CSIS findings before Citizenship and Immigration
Minister Lucienne Roubillaird can deny an application for
citizenship. Concerned that the review could precipitate legal
action leading to his deportation back to Germany - where
Holocaust denial is an indictable offence - Zundel has used
various legal manoeuvres since August to block the Security
Intelligence Review Committee from examining his file. 

Zundel was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Canada on August
27, 1992 on charges of disseminating hate propaganda. That
ruling, which followed sensational hate trials here in 1985
and 1988, stuck down the false news section of Canada's
Criminal Code as unconstitutional because it unduly restricted
free speech.

He was originally convicted on charges of distributing the
32-page Holocaust denial pamphlet, "Did Six Million Really
Die?" The pamphlet, printed by his Samisdat Publishing
Company, denies the existence of any Nazi plan of genocide
against the Jews and claims the Holocaust is a hoax designed
to enrich the State of Israel through the reparation payments
it receives from Germany.

Citing a lack of evidence, Ontario's attorney-general earlier
this month withdrew charges here against Zundel of promoting
hatred.

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