During a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ottawa on September 22nd, Canadian parliamentarians paid tribute to a man referred to as a Canadian and Ukrainian hero, giving the man two standing ovations. Later, it emerged the man in question was a volunteer in the notorious Waffen SS.
Ukrainian-Canadian Yaroslav Hunka, aged 98, was a guest of the Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota, a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who stated that Mr. Hunka lived in his constituency and introduced him as a ”veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98.”
Members of parliament from all parties rose to applaud Hunka, possibly unaware that the only forces that fought the USSR in Ukraine in World War II were under the command of German Führer and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
According to a report from the Jewish news outlet Forward, Hunka was described as a member of the First Ukrainian Division but noted that the division was just a rebranding of the 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS, the military arm of the SS, also known as SS Galicia.
Forward also referenced a Ukrainian blog of veterans of the SS Galicia, around 2,000 of whom moved to Canada after the war, and the blog allegedly contains a post by Hunka himself, who states that he volunteered to join the SS in 1943, rather than being conscripted.
On Sunday, September 24th, Speaker Rota publicly apologised for inviting Hunka to the House of Commons saying,
In my remarks following the address of the president of Ukraine, I recognised an individual in the gallery. I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so.
No one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them. This initiative was entirely my own, the individual in question being from my riding [district] and having been brought to my attention.
Rota went on to apologise directly to the Jewish communities in Canada and stated that he took “full responsibility” for his actions.
Prime Minister Trudeau, meanwhile, denied any responsibility for the move, claiming that Rota had not informed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about Hunka’s invitation nor had he told the visiting Ukrainian delegation.
The entire affair has been sharply criticised by Canadian Jewish associations, including the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which stated,
We are deeply troubled & disturbed that a Ukrainian veteran of the infamous 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi SS – which actively participated in the genocide of Jews – was celebrated with a standing ovation in the Canadian Parliament.
Canada’s Jewish community stands firmly with Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression. But we can’t stay silent when crimes committed by Ukrainians during the Holocaust are whitewashed.
This is not the first time Trudeau’s Liberals have been accused of Nazi links regarding Ukraine.
Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland once attempted to cover up the fact her Ukrainian grandfather Michael Chomiak had been a supporter of the Nazi regime, by initially calling the allegations Russian propaganda and denying Chomiak had collaborated with the German regime.
However, it later emerged in 2017 that Chomiak had edited a newspaper that had previously been seized by the Nazis and turned into a propaganda arm of the regime. The newspaper is even said to have praised the 14th Waffen SS division, the same division Mr Hunka belonged to.
Freeland again was accused of Nazi sympathies after she appeared to pose with a banner linked to the movement started by Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, once an ally of Hitler, who was accused of directing atrocities against Jews and Poles.
The picture of Freeland with the black and red banner was initially posted to social media but deleted when the Nazi links were pointed out on social media. It is unknown whether Freeland knew what the banner represented at the time.
