In the scandal surrounding the tribute to a Ukrainian SS veteran, the President of the Canadian Parliament, Anthony Rota, announced his resignation today. Rota told a session of Canada’s House of Commons that he made a “mistake” by inviting the 98-year-old to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s parliamentary speech. Rota not only invited Hunka, but also called him a “hero”, after which he received a standing ovation twice from parliamentarians.
After the speech, it emerged that Hunka, who lives in the Rota constituency, served in the Nazi criminal force Waffen-SS during the Second World War. The case was a turning point for Russia, which is trying to portray its war of conquest in Ukraine, which violates international law, as an operation to “denazify” the neighboring country.
Call for the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” said the liberal politician. Rota made the comments after Foreign Minister Melanie Joly publicly called on him to resign. Trudeau was more reserved but equally unequivocal, urging his party colleague to “think about your future.”
The case overshadowed Zelensky’s visit to Canada. It was started by the organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC), which shortly after the speech expressed outrage that Rota had honored Hunka, a “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran” who fought for Ukraine’s independence against Russia. Rota hid the fact that Hunka served in a Waffen-SS unit during World War II.
“Deep regret”
Rota then apologized. “I would particularly like to express my deepest sympathy to the Jewish communities in Canada and around the world,” the Liberal politician said, according to Canadian media reports over the weekend.
According to the FSCW, Hunka served in the 14th SS Waffen-Grenadier Division, also known as the Waffen-SS-Division Galizien. The SS, which was classified as a criminal organization at the Nuremberg Trials after the end of the war, had national associations in many occupied countries that were involved in war crimes.
To support its Nazi claims against Ukraine, Russian propaganda repeatedly refers to the nationalist leader Stepan Bandera (1909-1959), who temporarily collaborated with the Germans, was sentenced to death in absentia in the Soviet Union and murdered by an agent of the KGB in Munich. .