Ottawa
CNN
—
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized on behalf of Canada’s parliament Wednesday, referring to the “deeply embarrassing” incident final week that noticed the chamber applaud a Ukrainian veteran who fought for a Nazi navy unit throughout World Conflict II.
“This was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed parliament and Canada. All of us who have been on this Home on Friday remorse deeply having stood and clapped, although we did so unaware of the context,” mentioned Trudeau in a media briefing in Ottawa Wednesday.
Trudeau additionally acknowledged diplomatic injury executed to the visiting Ukrainian delegation in attendance that day, which included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I additionally need to reiterate how deeply sorry Canada is for the scenario this put President Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation in. This can be very troubling to suppose that this egregious error is being politicized by Russia and its supporters to offer false propaganda about what Ukraine is combating for,” he mentioned.
On Friday, following an handle by Zelensky, Home of Commons speaker Anthony Rota lauded veteran Yaroslav Hunka as a Ukrainian-Canadian battle hero who “fought for Ukrainian independence in opposition to the Russian aggressors then, and continues to help the troops at present.”
Hunka, 98, obtained an prolonged standing ovation.
However within the days since, human rights and Jewish organizations have mentioned that Hunka served in a Nazi navy unit referred to as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS.
The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division was a part of the Nazi SS group declared a felony group by the Worldwide Army Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1946, which decided the Nazi group had dedicated battle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.
Jewish human rights group B’nai Brith Canada in a press release condemned the Ukrainian volunteers who served within the unit as “ultra-nationalist ideologues” who “dreamed of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state and endorsed the thought of ethnic cleaning.”
Rota has resigned his publish amid the fallout, and Poland’s Minister of Training has revealed a letter saying that he’s taking steps in the direction of Hunka’s doable extradition.