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A former federal justice minister says the 鈥渇ailure of indifference and inaction鈥� over Canada鈥檚 history with Nazis in the country likely contributed to Parliament鈥檚 unknowing recognition of a Nazi veteran in the House of Commons last week, and that he wants to see nearly 40-year-old documents on suspected war criminals living in Canada unsealed.

The push to release the documents comes amid ongoing fallout after Parliament鈥檚 recognition of 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian veteran who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War.

Hunka was invited to the House of Commons by House Speaker Anthony Rota 鈥� who has since resigned over the scandal 鈥� during Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy鈥檚 visit to Ottawa.

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The incident caused outrage and embarrassment, both domestically and internationally, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has since apologized on behalf of all Parliamentarians.

It has also renewed calls to unseal portions of the report from the , a 1985 probe into more than 800 cases of people accused of committing war crimes and suspected of having escaped to Canada following the Second World War. Much of the inquiry鈥檚 findings and final report remain redacted.

Irwin Cotler 鈥� a former federal justice minister who also served as chief counsel to the Canadian Jewish Congress during the Deschênes Commission 鈥� told CTV鈥檚 Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday that he has long been calling for more of the inquiry鈥檚 report to be unsealed.

鈥淎s it has always been said, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and we need to be fully transparent, so that we can bring about the necessary understanding of what, in fact, took place,鈥� Cotler said.

鈥淎nd so that we can secure the necessary justice that has been lacking, and that we can also correct the historical record, and that we can go forward in terms of pursuing justice, and not having situations like what occurred in the Canadian Parliament, where we inadvertently end up indulging the falsity of history,鈥� he added.

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The commission found that hundreds of the Waffen-SS Galicia Division were living in Canada by the mid-1980s, according to The Canadian Press, but Justice Jules Deschênes said that membership in the division did not itself constitute a war crime.

Cotler said the government could unseal the records without necessarily compromising confidentiality in some cases.

鈥淚 myself appeared before the commission; I acted as counsel before that commission,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is evidence that needs to be made public.鈥�

鈥淲e need to know the whole truth, and as I said, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the best guarantor of justice for all,鈥� he also said.

Cotler also said both Parliament鈥檚 recognition of Hunka and the reticence to unseal the Deschênes Commission records speaks to Canada鈥檚 history of 鈥渙ngoing failure to bring Nazi war criminals to justice.鈥�

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He said 鈥渆veryone was disturbed鈥� by Parliament recognizing Hunka, but 鈥渢he larger question, which was initially ignored, was about how he got into Canada to begin with, and how there was no accountability once he was in Canada.鈥�

鈥淭his was a failure here of indifference and inaction by successive Canadian governments, the result being that we became a sanctuary for Nazi war criminals, and no accountability would then ensue,鈥� he said.

He is now calling on Canada to 鈥渢ake the lead鈥� and establish an independent international tribunal to investigate Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine.

GOVERNMENT WON鈥橳 COMMIT TO UNSEALING RECORDS

The federal government, meanwhile, has not committed to unsealing the Deschênes Commission records.

Government Whip Steve MacKinnon told Kapelos, also in an interview airing Sunday, that the incident in the House of Commons last week has given all Canadians, including the government, the opportunity to 鈥渞eflect on these issues and continue to fight anti-Semitism.鈥�

But when pressed on whether that could lead to more of the inquiry report being made public, MacKinnon wouldn鈥檛 say.

MacKinnon also would not commit to making changes to the vetting process for guests to Parliament, or to implementing a formal mechanism to ensure a similar incident isn鈥檛 repeated.

But MacKinnon did say the next House speaker 鈥� set to be elected Tuesday 鈥� will likely 鈥渂e examining those very things.鈥�

鈥淚 have no doubt that increased rigor, more rigor than has been applied to this particular situation, will be applied in the future,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd that is probably doubly true for when we receive world leaders and have speeches inside the House of Commons.鈥�

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller said on his way into a Liberal caucus meeting earlier this week that declassifying some of the records is something "we could possibly examine again," but that "not being privy to what is in those documents," he can't say either way whether he supports the idea.

With files from CTVNews.ca鈥檚 Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello and CTV鈥檚 Question Period Senior Producer Stephanie Ha