Canadian House Speaker sorry for calling ex-Nazi a ‘hero’

The Canadian Parliament gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian former Nazi soldier on Friday, drawing a sharp rebuke from Jewish organizations and online observers.

Canadian Speaker of the House Anthony Rota, who organized Hunka’s visit, is now being slammed for a weak apology he issued over X, where he simply called Hunka “an individual in the gallery.”

“We have here in the chamber today …[a] Ukrainian-Canadian…veteran from the Second World War, who fought the Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today,” Rota said before a near unanimous standing ovation from the Canadian parliament, including by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky was in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, to discuss economic aid Canada may provide Ukraine next year.

“I was going to say he’s in the gallery, but I think you beat me to that,” Rota said after the ovation. “He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all of his service.”

Hunka was a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (known as the Galician division) during World War II.

The Galician division was implicated in multiple reports of civilian massacres, including one that resulted in the deaths of between 500-1,500 people, reported Esprit de Corps, a Canadian defense publication focused on the military.

“The Waffen SS wasn’t just any formation,” commented @grylxndr on X. “It was racialized and ideological. It’d be like if the Klan formally attached military units to the U.S. Army.”

“[E]yewitness accounts…pointed out that members of the 14th division, entered the village and began executing civilians,” a Polish Institute of National Remembrance report about Nazi war crimes concluded in 2003.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies issued a statement on Sunday saying they were “deeply disturbed” by the Canadian Parliaments’ “recognition of a Ukrainian veteran who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others.”

“Not a single person in parliament stopped to think ‘Wait, he fought against RUSSIA in WWII?’ even for a second,” X user @uncle_deluge asked. “I am in tears laughing. They marched a member of the Waffen SS into the House of Commons and gave him a standing ovation. Holy shit.”

In Rota’s apology, he said he “recognized an individual in the gallery” after Zelensky addressed parliament.

“I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so,” Rota said, without mentioning what exactly that information was.

“I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them.”

Online observers were unmoved by Rota’s apology.

“lol you’d never guess by this tweet that this guy is apologizing for inviting a literal former member of the Waffen SS to Canada’s House of Commons & having everyone give the Nazi a standing ovation,” wrote @AshAgony.

“Of course he will have to resign; I’m surprised he hasn’t already,” commented @EdmundGriffiths. “He created—entirely on his own initiative, according to his statement—a situation where the president of Ukraine & a NATO PM were filmed applauding a veteran of the Waffen SS. If he stays, that looks like policy.”

“It has become somewhat of a running joke in Canadian politics that no one resigns for anything,” said @HannahHodson28. “If inviting and celebrating a literal Nazi in the House of Commons does not result in at least one resignation we are truly a ridiculous country.”

Prime Minister Trudeau subsequently released a statement about the incident.

“It’s extremely upsetting that this happened. The Speaker has acknowledged his mistake and has apologized,” Trudeau said. “But this is something that is deeply embarrassing to the Parliament of Canada and by extension to all Canadians.”

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*First Published: Sep 25, 2023, 2:54 pm CDT