After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology for his country’s recognition of a soldier who fought alongside the Nazis. Trudeau said the guy who invited and recognized him was “solely responsible” for the invitation and ceremony, but that it was a terribly embarrassing error for Parliament and Canada. The speaker of the House of Commons resigned on Tuesday.
Canadian legislators gave Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a standing ovation when Speaker Anthony Rota called attention to him after the Ukrainian President presented a speech in the House of Commons on Friday. War hero Hunka, of the First Ukrainian Division, is presented. However, experts began spreading the rumor that the First Ukrainian Division was actually the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, also known as the SS 14th Waffen Division, a volunteer organization under Nazi command.
According to The WPBN, Trudeau said Wednesday before entering the House of Commons, “All of us who were in the House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped, even though we did so unaware of the context.” “It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions who died in the Holocaust, and it was deeply, deeply painful for Jewish people.” Trudeau expressed his concern that Russia and its allies were using this “egregious error” to spread “false propaganda” about why Ukraine was fighting.
On Monday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, called the standing ovation for Hunka “outrageous” and the outcome of a “sloppy attitude” toward remembering the Nazi dictatorship. President Putin of Russia has labeled Zelenskyy’s opponents in Ukraine as “neo-Nazis,” despite the fact that Zelenskyy is Jewish and suffered through the Holocaust via family members.
Following a meeting with the party leaders in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Speaker of the House Anthony Rota resigned in the face of intense criticism. House Government Leader Karina Gould claimed that parliamentarians’ faith in Rota had been destroyed since he welcomed and acknowledged Hunka without alerting the government or the Ukrainian delegation.
On Sunday, Rota claimed that he alone was to blame for inviting and recognizing Hunka, a constituent from his area. According to the speaker’s office, Hunka’s son asked the local Rota office if he might attend Zelensky’s address. Those who support the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies have dubbed this “a stain on our country’s venerable legislature with profound implications both in Canada and globally.”
