Call us pawns of the vast Jewish conspiracy that exists in David Ahenakew´s hate-addled mind, but we were shocked and repelled by the Saskatchewan Indian leader´s statement that Hitler did the world a favour with the Holocaust.

"The Jews damn near owned all of Germany," he said on Friday. "That´s how Hitler came in ... That´s why he fried six million of those guys ... I don´t support Hitler but he cleaned up a lot of things, didn´t he? You would be owned by the Jews right now the world over ... The hell with the Jews."

Were this man an ordinary citizen, he might be dismissed as a pitiable bigot. But Mr. Ahenakew is a former head of the Assembly of First Nations, Canada´s leading native lobby group. His comments were delivered at a conference organized by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, of which he is a senator and a former chief.

The position of FSIN "senator" is ceremonial. But clearly, Mr. Ahenakew´s views are so toxic that the group should strip him of the title and explicitly repudiate his remarks. Mr. Ahenakew is also a member of the Order of Canada, our country´s highest honour for achievement. He should lose that too.

Mr. Ahanakew would not be the first Order of Canada recipient to give up his membership: In 1998, an advisory council opted to strip disgraced hockey czar Alan Eagleson of his award after he was convicted of fraud. With this in mind, taking back the honour from a man who regards the Jews as a "disease" should not be controversial. (© Copyright 2002 National Post 12/16/02)