University of Alberta returning $30,000 donation to Yaroslav Hunka's family, closing endowment in his name
CBC
The University of Alberta is returning a $30,000 donation it received from the family of Yaroslav Hunka, saying it regrets any harm it may have caused by accepting the endowment in his name.
"The university recognizes and regrets the unintended harm caused," Verna Yiu, interim provost and vice-president of the university, said in a statement.
"On behalf of the university, I want to express our commitment to address anti-Semitism in any of its manifestations, including the ways in which the Holocaust continues to resonate in the present."
Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian, was invited to Ottawa last week for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to Parliament, where Hunka was given a standing ovation after being pointed out by Speaker Anthony Rota.
It later emerged that the man Zelenskyy and others were applauding served in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was part of Adolf Hitler's forces during the Second World War.
After Hunka's past came to light, the university said it began a review of the $30,000 endowment fund in Hunka's name.
The university said Hunka's family made the donation to the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the university in 2019.
At the University of Alberta, people can make donations that are then invested on their own, or pooled with other endowments, to generate interest that can be used to fund bursaries and researchers.
The university said it is in the process of reviewing how it names endowments and other donations, and its policies and procedures for endowments, "to ensure alignment with our values."
Over the last decade, ending in March of last year, the university's endowment has earned an average annual return of 9.6 per cent.
The endowment is managed by the Board Investment Committee at the university. The board's 2022 report says it has a total of $1.6 billion worth of endowment assets.
Over the last 10 years, the university's endowment allowed it to fund $425 million in spending on scholarships and research, $57 million of which was dispersed in 2022, the report said.
Watch: At Issue | Is the Speaker's resignation enough?:
As Halifax scraps plans for a sobering centre, staff at similar facilities across Canada say they’re a crucial part of the continuum of care needed to address homelessness and addiction.
New Brunswick will table its latest budget Tuesday after months of warnings from Premier Susan Holt that spending in some areas will have to come down.
Many Quebecers are waking up in the dark on Tuesday with power outages affecting several areas, as high winds continue to sweep across the province.
Brett Kraynyk's lease is coming up for a renewal, and while the Winnipeg property where he lives is rent-controlled, he's worried about a significant increase if his landlord reduces his rent discount — which happened last year.
The Swale Watchers plan to keep watching.
In a smaller city like Prince Albert, Ramadan can feel different.
About 125 people came out for a town hall meeting on health care in Charlottetown Monday night.
This is the second of two-part CBC News report on Taser use by Edmonton police. To read the previous story, click here.
A Merritt, B.C., father is urging parents to be on the lookout for ticks while the weather warms up, after his six-year-old son was partially paralyzed by a tick bite last week.
About that heartbreaking loss to the U.S. at the 2026 Olympic women's hockey final last month, Sarah Nurse says, “that was the most fun I’ve had in a hockey game in a very long time.”
The U.S. government on Monday said electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla and South Korea's LG Energy Solution had signed a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cell manufacturing facility in Lansing, Mich., with an expected production launch in 2027.
In one small town in Alberta, the assistant principal says teachers almost never meet alone with parents anymore.
Tens of thousands of customers are without power and four parts of Highway 401 are closed Tuesday morning as blasts of blowing snow hit the Ottawa-Gatineau area.