(PM.) The Parliament of Canada provided a loud, all-party standing ovation Friday to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old who served with the Nazi Waffen-SS during the Second World War.
Canadian Parliament and Zelensky give a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the 14th division of the Waffen SS pic.twitter.com/7WrD3vchZ8
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 24, 2023
Hunka was a soldier with the 14th “Galicia” division of the Waffen-SS, the military section of the Nazi SS, which was responsible for elements of terror from massive extermination camps to the daily torture and repression of citizens within occupied Europe. The International Military Tribunal that oversaw the Nuremberg war crimes trials declared the SS to be a criminal organization.
The Associated Press captioned of a picture documenting Hunka’s presence, describing Hunka as having “fought with the First Ukrainian Division in World War II before later immigrating to Canada.” The Galicia division was rechristened in 1945 with a Ukrainian name in order to avoid connecting it to the Waffen-SS.
Hunka was a guest of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Zelensky was in Ottawa to address a joint session of Parliament and to pick up more military aid from the Liberal government. In his address to Parliament, Zelensky thanked Canada for its continued support to the war with Russia and suggested Canadians have always been on “the bright side of history.”
🚨🚨 The Canadian Parliament along with Justin Trudeau and Zelensky just honored an actual Nazi. Read this whole thread 👇🏻 https://t.co/OdWSUdUWcj
— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) September 24, 2023
House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota gushed over Hunka’s presence and told the Members of Parliament (MPs) that Hunka was a “veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98.”
Rota did not attempt to explain how Hunka’s belligerence against Russia did not serve Canada’s objectives during World War II. Canada did not fight against the Russians in the Second World War but, along with Great Britain, the United States and many other nations, was an ally of Russia, or the Soviet Union as it was then known.
Nonetheless, all the MPs rose to give Hunka a standing ovation. Such all-party demonstrations are extremely rare in Canada’s House of Commons. Hunka saluted the fanfare.
How did 2,000 members of Hitler’s SS come to Canada after World War 2 and why did the Canadian government allow that to happen? My latest article: The RCAF Officer Who Brought Hitler’s Waffen SS to Canada https://t.co/5tBVDi4F3u
— David Pugliese (@davidpugliese) November 3, 2020