Calls for Canada's Speaker to resign for inviting Waffen-SS Galicia veteran to Parliament

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has today called on Anthony Rota, the Speaker of the House of Commons, to resign over the invitation of 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka to Parliament last week for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech. Hunka previously served in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Radio-Canada 

Details: Joly said she considers Hunka's invitation to the Canadian Parliament "absolutely unacceptable" and urged Rota to listen to parliamentarians who are demanding the speaker’s resignation. 

"It was an embarrassment to the House and to Canadians," she said, adding that it was important to look into what happened as a matter of leadership. 

On Friday, during Zelenskyy's visit to Canada, Anthony Rota introduced 98-year-old Hunka as a World War II veteran who had fought against the Russians. He was greeted with applause by politicians and government officials in the hall. 

It later emerged that during World War II, Hunka served in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division formed of Ukrainians recruited by the Germans to fight against the Red Army. 

Reference: The Waffen-SS Galicia Division was formed in 1943 by German troops who recruited Ukrainians to fight against the Red Army. The Nuremberg trials and the so-called Deschênes Commission, set up in Canada in the 1980s, did not confirm the involvement of the division's members in war crimes. Nevertheless, the division has been blamed for punitive Wehrmacht operations against Poles and Jews. 

Details: Hunka's invitation to the Canadian Parliament caused outrage, and Canadian and Polish Jewish organisations have demanded an explanation. The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons later apologised for what happened but refused to resign. 

The Office of the Prime Minister of Canada told local media that neither Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor the Ukrainian side had been aware that a former member of the SS Galicia Division had been invited, and they condemn the action wholeheartedly. 

Rota is due to meet with party leaders in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday evening, and is expected to decide whether to resign. 

Reminder: In 2021, Germany protested to Ukraine over a march in the centre of Kyiv on the anniversary of the creation of the SS Galicia Division.

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