Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized for applauding a Ukrainian Nazi veteran at a ceremony in parliament last week, calling the scene “deeply embarrassing for parliament and Canada.”
Speaking to reporters before addressing the Canadian House of Commons on Wednesday, Trudeau offered “parliament’s unreserved apologies for what happened on Friday,” referring to the standing ovation given by Canadian lawmakers – Trudeau included – to 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka.
At an event with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Hunka was introduced by House Speaker Anthony Rota as “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero… who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians” in World War II.
Rota resigned on Tuesday after media outlets realized that Hunka had fought with the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Ukrainian unit formed by the Nazi regime in 1943 that is known to have committed atrocities against Jews and Poles on the Eastern Front.
Trudeau initially referred to the incident as “embarrassing,” but did not apologize directly or join the calls for Rota’s resignation. Speaking on Wednesday, the PM attempted to distance himself from Rota, a fellow member of the Liberal Party.
“The speaker was solely responsible for the invitation and recognition of this man, and has wholly accepted that responsibility and stepped down,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau then said that “all of us who were in this house on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped, even though we did so unaware of the context.”
Despite Trudeau claiming to have been unaware of Hunka’s membership in a Nazi unit, Rota’s description of him as a Ukrainian who “fought the Russians” in the Second World War could only have applied to someone fighting on the side of Nazi Germany.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has voiced support for the Russian president's pick for a new…
President Vladimir Putin has proposed that Sergei Shoigu be replaced as Minister of Defense of…
The entire Ukrainian society would need to make sacrifices and forget about their peaceful lives…
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Saturday unveiled his first picks for the new cabinet,…
One person was killed and at least four others wounded in a Ukrainian rocket strike…
We have been through an intense, if muffled crisis in the ongoing political-military confrontation between…