Date: July 22, 1994
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Director, Mothers for Peace – Bedem Ljubavi (Toronto Chapter)
Addressed to: The Right Honourable Sergio Marchi, Minister of Immigration, Government of Canada
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 2_Part136.pdf
About This Letter
In this urgent letter dated July 22, 1994, Valentina Krčmar, writing as Director of Mothers for Peace (Bedem Ljubavi), appeals directly to Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Sergio Marchi, to investigate and revoke the visa of Srdjan Trifković, a Serbian political advisor and propagandist linked to Radovan Karadžić, the Bosnian Serb leader later convicted of genocide.
Krčmar’s tone is urgent, alarmed, and morally resolute. She reports that Trifković had been granted a visitor’s visa and was delivering public lectures in Calgary, spreading narratives that portrayed Serbs as victims and Croats and Bosniaks as aggressors
krcmar book 2_Part136
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“We were informed by somebody from Calgary that a man going by the name Srdjan Trifković is in Canada, Calgary, and is giving speeches about the situation in the Balkans. This man is one of the spokespersons and political advisors to Karadžić, the man who is the leader of the people that have killed over 200,000 people in Bosnia and ethnically cleansed (a very polite expression for expulsion and looting) over 2 million.”
Krčmar emphasizes the trauma and outrage this news caused among Bosnian and Croatian Canadians — many of whom were survivors or had lost entire families to the atrocities orchestrated by Karadžić’s regime.
“There are many of us here that have lost whole families, or do not know where many of our dear ones are — all thanks to those like Karadžić or Trifković, who got the visa to come and spread lies and hate in Canada.”
She demands immediate government action to revoke Trifković’s visa and remove him from the country, warning that his presence undermines Canada’s moral standing and peace within its diverse communities:
“Since this is very urgent, we expect that our Immigration looks immediately into this case and does whatever is necessary to make sure that people like Trifković leave the country right away and never get an audience here, in our new homeland.”
This letter is both a political warning and a moral appeal — emblematic of Mothers for Peace’s vigilance in confronting misinformation and genocide denial wherever it surfaced. Krčmar’s words speak for a generation of exiled witnesses demanding that Canada uphold justice and refuse safe haven to those who defend or excuse war crimes.
