House Speaker Anthony Rota to address Parliament amid Ukrainian veteran fallout
CBC
House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota will address Parliament Monday — the day after apologizing for inviting a Ukrainian war veteran who fought in a Nazi-aligned unit to Ottawa for a speech.
Rota invited Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian who now lives in North Bay, Ont., to witness Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's address to Parliament on Friday.
Rota celebrated Hunka, a constituent of his Nipissing—Timiskaming riding, as a "Ukrainian hero" and a "Canadian hero," and prompted a standing ovation for the man.
Rota has since apologized, saying he takes full responsibility for putting Hunka on the guest list.
Rota will speak at 11 a.m. ET. CBCNews.ca will carry his remarks live.
CBC News reported Sunday that Hunka fought in the 1st Galician division, a branch of Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS, in the Second World War.
In a decade-old article in a Ukrainian-language magazine, Hunka recounts his time in the division.
"None of us asked what our reward would be...or even what our tomorrow would look like. We felt our duty to our native land — and left!" Hunka wrote.
A request for comment to Hunka and his relatives went unanswered. Hunka has previously said he fought for Ukrainian independence during his war service.
Jewish groups are outraged that MPs, senators and dignitaries applauded Hunka.
"The fact that this individual, and by proxy the organization he was a member of, was given a standing ovation in the House of Commons is deeply troubling," Dan Panneton, a director with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said in an interview.
"I think association with this unit makes you a Nazi collaborator. To be part of this unit, you swore allegiance to Hitler and you were involved with the massacre of civilians. So it doesn't matter if you try and claim that you were defending against communism, you were still involved with the Nazi war machine. That makes you complicit," Panneton said.
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