The Speaker of Canada’s parliament resigned on Tuesday, days
after publicly celebrating a Ukrainian veteran who fought for the Nazis during
World War II.
During a visit to parliament by Ukraine’s President,
Volodymyr Zelensky, last week, Anthony Rota hailed an elderly Ukrainian
immigrant from his district as a hero, prompting a standing ovation.
But Rota has faced growing pressure to resign after it was
revealed that the veteran had served in a Nazi-linked military unit.
“It is with a heavy heart that I rise to inform members of
my resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons,” Rota told lawmakers from
the parliamentary floor.
He expressed his “profound regret for my error” and the pain
he caused to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world.
Russia has accused the government in Kyiv of espousing Nazi
ideals, despite Zelensky being Jewish and losing family members in the
Holocaust, and the controversy was likely to add fodder to that narrative.
On Friday, Rota paid homage to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old
Ukrainian immigrant who was visiting parliament and who is from Rota’s
electoral district.
He hailed Hunka as “a Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran from
the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the
Russians” and “a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero.”
But Hunka actually served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier
Division of the SS, “a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during
the Holocaust are well-documented,” according to the Friends of Simon
Wiesenthal Center.
The Jewish advocacy group called the incident “shocking” and
“incredibly disturbing.”
“This incident has compromised all 338 Members of
Parliament,” the organization said, adding it had “handed a propaganda victory
to Russia, distracting from what was a momentously significant display of unity
between Canada and Ukraine.”
– ‘Deepest apologies’
–
Rota, who was first elected in 2004 and became speaker in
2019, apologized on Sunday, saying that he had “subsequently become aware of
more information” which caused him to regret his remarks about Hunka.
“This initiative was entirely my own… I particularly want to
extend my deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the
world,” he said.
On Monday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Rota’s
remarks shameful.
The main opposition Conservatives slammed the Trudeau
administration for failing to properly vet Hunka, despite claims it had no
advance notice he’d been invited to the event.
Zelensky’s visit to Canada was the third leg in a tour aimed
at bolstering international support, after addressing the United Nations and
visiting US President Joe Biden in Washington.
During the visit, Trudeau pledged additional aid to
Zelensky’s war-torn country.
Canada is home to the world’s second-largest Ukrainian
diaspora and Zelensky, in his speech to parliament, expressed thanks for the
backing given to Kyiv since Russian troops poured over the Ukrainian borders in
February 2022.
Russia has accused Ukrainian leaders of being “neo-Nazis”
and has sought to justify the war with the need to “denazify” its neighbour.
Commenting on the issue of the Ukrainian veteran, Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous,” Russian
media reported.
In Poland, Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek raised the
possibility of seeking Hunka’s extradition.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Czarnek said he had
tasked the National Historical Research Institute to see if Hunka is wanted for
crimes against Poles or Polish Jews.
“I have taken steps towards a possible extradition of this
man to Poland,” Czarnek wrote.
AFP
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