Justin Trudeau, the prime minster of Canada has apologized for the Canadian parliament endorsing Yaroslav Hunka, a former Nazi solider, as a war hero. Trudeau stated the situation was “deeply embarrassing.” The incident happened on September 22nd., 2023. Yaroslav Hunka, born 1925, is Ukrainian-Canadian. Hunka is a World War II veteran and was a part of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the S.S., a Nazi military formation.
Canada’s former house of commons speaker, Antony Rota, resigned following the incident. “This house is above any of us; therefore, I must step down as your speaker,” Rota said in parliament Tuesday afternoon, reiterating his “profound regret” for his error.
Politician Marc Miller stated on National Post, “There was a point in our history where it was easier to get in as a Nazi than it was as a Jewish person. I think that’s a history we have to reconcile.”
Currently there are 600 former Waffen-SS Galica Division members residing in Canada. Yaroslav Hunka was introduced as a war hero who was fighting the Russians, but according to World War II history, the Soviets (present-day Russia) were fighting the Nazis. The cause of the incident was not knowing the correct history.
Ukrainian National federation Of Canada president, Jurij Klufas, has come to Yaroslav Hunka’s defense. “If you’re a soldier, it doesn’t mean you’re a member of a certain party from that country.”
Klufas says Hunka was not fighting for Nazi Germany, rather he was fighting for Ukranian Independence; klufas has not met with Hunka personally but claims the backlash Hunka is receiving is unfair. Justice Jules Deschênes says membership of the division does not constitute as a war crime, and charges of war crimes against members have never been sustained. In the region Hunka was from, the Germans were tolerable compared to the Soviets.
Frank Sysyn, a history professor at the University of Alberta, says it’s accurate to say that Hunka was not a Nazi, despite fighting for Nazi Germany, because non-Germans weren’t allowed to join the party. B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish human rights organization, condemned Ukrainian volunteers who supported the idea of a homogenous ethnic Ukrainian state and ethnic cleansing. Recognizing Hunka at parliament was “beyond outrageous,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said, adding, “we cannot allow the whitewashing of history.”
