Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered Parliament’s “most sincerest apology” on Wednesday for the tribute paid to a Ukrainian veteran who fought in a Nazi unit during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit last Friday.
On Tuesday, Lower House Speaker Anthony Rota bowed to political pressure and resigned from his post for inviting the assembly to applaud 98-year-old Jaroslaw Hunka, a resident of his constituency who had been a member of the SS Galicia was Division, a volunteer unit under the Nazi command of the Waffen-SS.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives was solely responsible for inviting this man and honoring him, Mr. Trudeau said during a news conference.
It was a mistake that deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada, and we all deeply regret that we stood up in the House and applauded, even if we did so without realizing the context.
This mistake is a terrible violation of the memory of the millions who died in the Holocaust and is deeply damaging to Jews, he added. It was also hurtful to Poles, Roma, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people of color and the millions of others who were persecuted by the Nazi regime.
Every year there are fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors reporting the horrors they saw and experienced. Therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure that no one ever forgets what happened. Product.
The Prime Minister also wanted to emphasize how sorry Canada is for the situation in which President Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation have found themselves. It is extremely disturbing that this glaring mistake is being politicized by Russia and its supporters to spread false propaganda about why Ukraine is fighting and defending itself.
Mr. Zelensky was in Ottawa on Friday after a visit to the United States to appeal for more Western help in the war against Russia. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, President Vladimir Putin has announced that Ukraine must be denazified. Although right-wing extremist organizations are active there, the phenomenon remains marginal and is primarily reinforced by Russian propaganda.
More details to follow