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Following violent protests, Canadian Parliament Speaker Anthony Rota has apologized for honoring a Ukrainian SS veteran during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Ottawa. “I would especially like to express my deepest regrets to the Jewish communities in Canada and around the world,” Rota said this weekend, according to Canadian media reports. He takes full responsibility for his actions.
As head of state of Ukraine, Zelensky visited Canada on Friday and addressed parliament in Ottawa. Moments later, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) organization expressed outrage that Rota had honored 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Jaroslaw Hunka as a “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran” who fought for Ukraine’s independence from Russia. Rota did not mention that Hunka served in a Waffen-SS unit during World War II.
Thunderous applause
Hunka was present in the room and received thunderous applause, according to the statement. One video even shows a standing ovation for the SS veteran. Hunka was honored as a “Ukrainian and Canadian hero.” Zelensky and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were also in the room. According to Radio Canada, Hunka lives in Speaker Rota’s constituency.
According to the FSCW, Hunka served in the 14th Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the Waffen-SS-Division Galizien. Classified as a criminal organization after the end of the war at the Nuremberg Trials, the SS had national associations involved in war crimes in many occupied countries. Canadian broadcaster CBC News reported on Sunday evening (local time) that it had tried in vain to reach Hunka.
Russia points to nationalist leader Bandera
Russia portrays its war enemy Ukraine as ‘neo-Nazi’. Moscow also refers to the Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera (1909–1959), who temporarily collaborated with the Germans, was sentenced to death in absentia in the Soviet Union and was murdered by a KGB agent in Munich.
The FSWC claims to be one of Canada’s leading human rights organizations. It is named after Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005). Galicia is a historic landscape in western Ukraine and southern Poland, not to be confused with Galicia in northwestern Spain. (SDA/no)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
