- Thursday, February 27, 2025
The Canadian House of Commons speaker Anthony Rota issued an apology for hailing the 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunki after the premier faced a backlash. The incident happened during Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada.
By: Shubham Ghosh
MORE trouble has greeted Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau at a time when his country has locked horns with India over a diplomatic tussle related to the murder of a Khalistan separatist leader. The Liberal leader has faced a backlash at home for meeting and felicitating a Nazi veteran which even saw Anthony Rota, speaker of the House of Commons of the Canadian parliament, issuing an apology to the Jewish community.
The apology came after Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the opposition, slammed Trudeau over an “appalling error in judgement”.
Poilievre took to social media and sought an apology from Trudeau after the latter honoured Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Nazi division, during Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada this week.
It has come out today that Justin Trudeau personally met with and honoured a veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (a Nazi division).
Liberals then arranged for this Nazi veteran to be recognized on the floor of the House of Commons during the visit of the… https://t.co/9JFUEqsdW8
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) September 24, 2023
In a post on X, the Conservative leader said, “It has come out today that Justin Trudeau personally met with and honoured a veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (a Nazi division). Liberals then arranged for this Nazi veteran to be recognized on the floor of the House of Commons during the visit of the Ukrainian President.
“This is an appalling error in judgement on the part of Justin Trudeau, whose personal protocol office is responsible for arranging and vetting all guests and programming for state visits of this kind.
“Mr. Trudeau must personally apologize and avoid passing the blame to others as he always does.”
Poilievre recently criticised Trudeau over the diplomatic tussle with India, asking the premier to come out clean with facts for making judgements after the prime minister accused New Delhi of being involved in the killing of Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Coming to the criticism over honouring the Nazi veteran, Canada-based human rights group Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center also objected to the development, saying on X that it was “appalled that Canada’s Parliament gave a standing ovation to a Ukrainian veteran who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others”.
FSWC is appalled that Canada’s Parliament gave a standing ovation to a Ukrainian veteran who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others.
An apology and explanation is owed.https://t.co/ZkzIkOCvBe
— Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (@CanadianFSWC) September 24, 2023
Extending apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and globally, Rota said he regretted recognising an individual in the gallery during Zelenskyy’s address in the Canadian parliament, a decision he took himself. He said no one — either Canadian parliamentarians or the Ukrainian delegation — was aware of his intention or remarks and took full responsibility for his actions and apologised.
Hunka was sitting in the gallery and received a standing ovation in the parliament after the speaker said he was a “hero” in the presence of the Ukrainian president.
Canadian Jewish group CIJA
Yaroslav Hunka, 98, was sitting in the gallery and got a standing ovation in parliament after Mr Rota said he was a “hero” during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the BBC reported.
Canadian Jewish group CIJA (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs) said it was “deeply troubled” that a veteran of a Nazi division that took part in the genocide of Jews had been celebrated. It said such an incident should never happen again.
It said this should never happen again.
