The sequence could have been perfect, if it had not been disturbed by a gigantic misstep: an inadvertent tribute to a former SS man in the Canadian House of Commons, inadvertently associating the Ukrainian president. On September 22, Volodymyr Zelensky made his first visit to Canada since the Russian invasion, offering a welcome diplomatic interlude to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, engaged in a standoff with India after denouncing the involvement of the Indian government in the murder in June of a Sikh Canadian.
The Ukrainian leader warmly thanked his hosts for their unwavering support since the start of the war, saying that ” Canada [avait] always been on the right side of history “. “Our government will stand by your side for as long as it takes,” assured Justin Trudeau, announcing additional aid of 650 million dollars (452 million euros) to Ukraine, in addition to the 8.9 billion dollars (6.2 billion euros) that Canada is has already been committed to paying since February 2022.
Outside Parliament in Ottawa, hundreds of Canadians of Ukrainian origin showed their support by singing and waving yellow and blue flags. With 1.4 million members, this community represents the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world, after that established in Russia.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, herself of Ukrainian origin through her maternal family, had tears in her eyes as she hugged the leader of kyiv.
But two days later, Sunday September 24, the Speaker of the House, Anthony Rota, had to issue a press release to apologize, “to Jewish communities across Canada and around the world.” During the Ukrainian president’s speech, Parliament was indeed invited to give a standing ovation to an old man present in the audience and presented by Anthony Rota as a “WWII veteran who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians, and who continues to support the troops today, even at the age of 98”. President Zelensky raised his fist in recognition. The ace. It turns out that the “Ukrainian and Canadian hero” actually fought during World War II in a Third Reich military formation accused of war crimes. Yaroslav Hunka belonged to the 14e Waffen Grenadier division of the SS, the military branch of the Nazi Party, a Ukrainian corps under German command also called “SS Galichina” (SS Galicia).
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