Trudeau apologizes for Nazi scandal in Canadian parliament Historic for an American president: Joe Biden visits striking union members

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau honored a former Waffen-SS soldier in the Canadian parliament, he asked for forgiveness. “It was a terrible violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust,” the head of government said on Wednesday. “It was a mistake that deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada.”

Parliament Speaker Anthony Rota honored an SS veteran last Friday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the lower house. He called 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Jaroslav Hunka a “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran” who fought for Ukraine’s independence from Russia. Hunka was present in the room and received thunderous applause.

However, Rota did not mention that Hunka had served in a Waffen-SS unit during World War II, according to the organization Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC). 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.

“All of us who were in Parliament on Friday deeply regret that we stood up and applauded, even though we did not know the background,” Trudeau said. Rota was solely responsible for inviting and honoring the SS veteran. After harsh criticism from MPs and members of the government, the Speaker of the House resigned on Tuesday.

Trudeau also apologized for the situation the incident had put Zelensky in. “It is deeply troubling that this mistake is being used by Russia and its supporters to spread false propaganda about what Ukraine is fighting for,” Trudeau said. To justify its war of aggression, which has been going on for 19 months, Russia has repeatedly tried to portray the Ukrainian government as “neo-Nazi.” (sda/dpa)