Calls are growing for Anthony Rota, the speaker of Canada's House of Commons, to resign after a Ukrainian man who is accused of fighting for a Nazi unit in World War II was invited to parliament and met with a standing ovation.
During a visit on September 22 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Yaroslav Hunka, 98, was praised by Rota as a hero. "We thank him for all his service," the speaker said.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said that Hunka served during World War II as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the First Ukrainian Division. It was a voluntary unit mostly made up of ethnic Ukrainians and commanded by Nazis including Heinrich Himmler, who formed the group.
Some Ukrainians fought for Nazi units during World War II.
It isn't clear who invited the Nazi veteran to Canada's parliament, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to point toward Rota. Trudeau's office didn't respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Monday when asked who gave the invitation to Hunka.
"It's extremely upsetting that this happened," Trudeau told reporters on Monday. "The speaker has acknowledged his mistake and has apologized.
"This is something that is deeply embarrassing to the parliament of Canada and, by extension, to all Canadians," the prime minister added.
Trudeau's office has also said that no advance notice was provided to the office, nor the Ukrainian delegation, about the invitation or the recognition.
Rota apologized in a statement on Sunday, saying he had "subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision" to recognize Hunka.
"No one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them," Rota said. "This initiative was entirely my own, the individual in question being from my riding [district] and having been brought to my attention."
Rota added: "I particularly want to extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. I accept full responsibility for my actions."
The incident has fed into the Kremlin's narrative that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine aims to "demilitarize and denazify" the country. Putin has accused Ukraine's administration and Zelensky of being neo-Nazis, although the latter is Jewish.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said that "such sloppiness toward memory is outrageous."
"Many Western countries, including Canada, have raised a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War. And they know nothing about the threat of fascism," Peskov told reporters.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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