Case information

Immigration and citizenship — Appeals to Federal Court of Appeal — Certification of questions by the Federal Court — Citizenship revocation — Impartiality of the Governor in Council — Reasonable apprehension of bias — Complicity — Voluntary, knowing and significant contribution — Crimes against humanity — Citizenship Act, RSC 1985, c C-29, s 22.2 — What are the limits of the jurisdictional and other errors which can override s. 22.2(d) of the Citizenship Act requiring certified questions, and what should the process threshold test be in assessing those errors by the Court of Appeal? — Is the issue of the impartiality of the Governor in Council in citizenship revocation matters a separate, divisible, decision, such that s. 22.2(d) of the Citizenship Act does not apply? — Is the test of reasonable apprehension of bias limited to the perception of the conscious or unconscious predispositions of the judge on judicial review, or does it also include the perspective of the public viewing the matter, regardless of the judge’s predispositions?

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

This is the Governor in Council (GIC) fourth attempt to revoke Mr. Oberlander’s Canadian citizenship because he was found to have significantly misrepresented his wartime activities to Canadian immigration and citizenship officials when he applied to enter Canada. Mr. Oberlander was born in 1924, in Halbstadt, Ukraine, and became a German citizen during World War II. After the war, he applied with his wife to enter Canada in 1952, was admitted in 1954 as a permanent resident, and obtained Canadian citizenship in 1960. In 1995, RCMP officers commenced an investigation regarding his involvement in war crimes. Days later, the process of revoking his citizenship began. In 2000, the Federal Court first found that Mr. Oberlander had obtained his Canadian citizenship by false representation or by knowingly concealing material circumstances. On three occasions — in 2001, 2007 and 2012 —, the GIC’s attempted to revoke Mr. Oberlander’s citizenship. Each time, the decision was set aside by the Federal Court of Appeal and the matter was remitted back to the GIC for reconsideration. On June 20, 2017, the GIC issued Order in Council PC 2017-793 to revoke Mr. Oberlander’s citizenship for a fourth time on the grounds that he was complicit in crimes against humanity, having made a voluntary, knowing and significant contribution to the crimes committed by Ek10a. Mr. Oberlander applied to the Federal Court for judicial review of the GIC’s decision. On May 1, 2018, the Federal Court dismissed Mr. Oberlander’s motion for recusation with costs. On September 27, 2018, the Federal Court dismissed Mr. Oberlander’s application for judicial review of the Governor in Council’s decision to revoke his Canadian citizenship with costs. On November 7, 2018, the court lifted the stay of the judgment, confirmed that the application for judicial review was dismissed, and found that no question of serious general importance was to be certified. On April 24, 2019, the Federal Court of Appeal ordered that Mr. Oberlander’s notice of appeal from be removed from the court file and that the file be closed.

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