OTTAWA –
A number of Jewish advocacy organizations condemned members of Parliament on Sunday for giving a standing ovation to a person who fought for a Nazi unit in the course of the Second World Warfare.
Throughout Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s go to to Ottawa on Friday, MPs honoured 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the First Ukrainian Division, within the Home of Commons.
Hunka was invited by Speaker Anthony Rota, who launched him.
“I’m very proud to say that he’s from North Bay and from my using of Nipissing–Timiskaming,” the Ontario MP mentioned.
“He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.”
MPs cheered and Zelenskyy raised his fist in acknowledgement as Hunka saluted from the gallery throughout two separate standing ovations.
The First Ukrainian Division was also called the Waffen-SS Galicia Division or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was below the command of the Nazis.
The Associates of Simon Wiesenthal Middle for Holocaust Research issued a press release Sunday saying the division “was liable for the mass homicide of harmless civilians with a degree of brutality and malice that’s unimaginable.”
“An apology is owed to each Holocaust survivor and veteran of the Second World Warfare who fought the Nazis, and a proof should be offered as to how this particular person entered the hallowed halls of Canadian Parliament and acquired recognition from the Speaker of the Home and a standing ovation,” the assertion mentioned.
Rota launched a press release late Sunday afternoon saying he acknowledged a person within the gallery on Friday, and that he has “subsequently change into conscious of extra data which causes me to remorse my resolution to take action.”
“I want to clarify that nobody, together with fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was conscious of my intention or of my remarks earlier than I delivered them,” he wrote.
“I notably need to lengthen my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and world wide.”
The assertion doesn’t clarify what Rota is apologizing for, and it doesn’t identify Hunka or give any particulars about what data Rota realized about him since Friday.
B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn mentioned it’s past outrageous that Parliament honoured a former member of a Nazi unit, saying Ukrainian “ultra-nationalist ideologues” who volunteered for the Galicia Division “dreamed of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state and endorsed the concept of ethnic cleaning.”
“We perceive an apology is forthcoming. We anticipate a significant apology. Parliament owes an apology to all Canadians for this outrage, and an in depth rationalization as to how this might presumably have taken place on the centre of Canadian democracy,” Mostyn mentioned.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which represents Jewish federations throughout the nation, mentioned it’s deeply troubled by the incident.
“Canada’s Jewish neighborhood stands firmly with Ukraine in its battle towards Russian aggression. However we won’t keep silent when crimes dedicated by Ukrainians in the course of the Holocaust are whitewashed,” the group mentioned in a press release revealed Sunday on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
Members of Parliament from all events rose to applaud Hunka. A spokesperson for the federal Conservatives mentioned the get together was not conscious of his historical past on the time.
In a second written assertion launched late Sunday, Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre laid the blame on the ft of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“No parliamentarians (aside from Justin Trudeau) had the chance to vet this particular person’s previous earlier than he was launched and honoured on the ground of the Home of Commons. With out warning or context, it was unimaginable for any parliamentarian within the room (aside from Mr. Trudeau) to know of this darkish previous,” Poilievre mentioned.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Workplace repeated Rota’s assertion that he alone invited Hunka.
“Parliament and the Speaker’s workplace is unbiased from the prime minister and the Prime Minister’s Workplace,” Mohammad Hussain mentioned in a written assertion Sunday.
“The Speaker had his personal allotment of visitor seating at Friday’s tackle, which have been decided by the Speaker and his workplace alone.”
NDP Chief Jagmeet Singh mentioned in a press release Sunday night he additionally shares concens about “the person honoured with a standing ovation,” including, with out naming Hunka, that he was not a visitor of the get together and the NDPs weren’t conscious of his “affiliation with the Nazi regime.”
“This occasion has brought about hurt to the Jewish neighborhood and for that, I’m sorry,” Singh mentioned.
“We should all stand collectively towards the rising tide of antisemitism.”
Monuments to honour the First Ukrainian Division have brought about controversy lately.
In 2021, a statue of Ukrainian navy chief Roman Shukhevych and a monument to the fighters of the Waffen-SS Galicia Division in Edmonton have been vandalized by somebody who spray painted them with the phrases “Precise Nazi.”
The Associates of Simon Wiesenthal Middle mentioned on the time that it had been advocating for his or her removing for many years.
In 2020, a monument to the Waffen-SS Galicia Division in Oakville, Ont., was vandalized in an analogous means.
The choice to confess Ukrainian immigrants who had served within the SS Waffen Division within the post-war interval was contentious, with Jewish teams arguing they need to be barred from the nation.
The Worldwide Army Tribunal in Nuremburg declared the SS to be a legal group, together with the SS Waffen in that declaration.
The Waffen-SS Galicia Division surrendered to the British military in 1945, and simply over 8,000 males have been moved to the UK in 1947.
In 1950, the federal cupboard determined to permit Ukrainians residing within the U.Okay. to return to Canada “however their service within the German military offered they’re in any other case admissible. These Ukrainians must be topic to particular safety screening, however shouldn’t be rejected on the grounds of their service within the German military.”
In 1985, then-prime minister Brian Mulroney referred to as for a royal fee to look at whether or not Canada had change into a haven for battle criminals.
The Deschenes Fee discovered there have been about 600 former members of the Waffen-SS Galicia Division residing in Canada on the time. However Justice Jules Deschenes mentioned membership within the division didn’t itself represent a battle crime.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Sept. 24, 2023.