Ottawa has a historical past of overlaying for Nazis, from World Struggle II to present-day Kiev
The stomach-churning scene of the Canadian parliament giving a standing ovation three days in the past to a former Waffen SS Nazi has by now made the rounds on the web.
Throughout Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s go to to Canada, and following his predictably bombastic pan-handling speech, Home Speaker Anthony Rota went on to gush reward over a Ukrainian-Canadian in parliament that day: Yaroslav Hunka, a World Struggle II-era Nazi, calling him “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero” and thanking him for his service.
Two days later, Rota issued an apology for lauding the person, saying he had “acknowledged a person within the gallery” and had subsequently turn out to be conscious of “extra info which causes me to remorse my determination to take action.”
Simply to be clear – since Rota was not – the particular person he meekly referred to was Yaroslav Hunka, and the info which made Rota remorseful was that Hunka had been a voluntary member of 1st Galician Division of the Waffen SS – , the one accused of mass murdering Poles, Jews and Ukrainians in Ukraine and Poland, in addition to committing different atrocities.
Whereas Rota claims he was unaware of Hunka’s service as a Nazi, provided that he had additionally praised Hunk for combating “for Ukrainian independence in opposition to the Russians,” one can assume that is the service he referred to.
In his apology, Rota acknowledged, “nobody, together with fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was conscious of my intention or of my remarks earlier than I delivered them.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s workplace denied any information of Hunka and his Nazi service, stating, “The Speaker had his personal allotment of visitor seating at Friday’s deal with, which had been decided by the Speaker and his workplace alone.”
Whether or not Trudeau (and his Stepan Bandera-sympathizing deputy PM Chrystia Freeland) knew about Yaroslav Hunka or not, the query stays: why was he by no means delivered to justice? He, or any of the opposite 2,000 SS Nazis Canada reportedly took in within the years following WW2. Having been accepted as anti-communist refugees with little to no scrutiny, these suspected warfare criminals and collaborators have been allowed to stay out the remainder of their days in peace, and most of them have finished so brazenly beneath their very own names, because the Simon Wiesenthal Middle has repeatedly reported.
There may be a lot to be stated about Canada’s historical past with Ukrainian Nazis. Not solely did it take them in after WW2, however the government-backed Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which, till not too long ago, listed Nazi-collaborator veterans organizations as members, in addition to government-funded Ukrainian ‘youth facilities’ that remember Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich. There are even monuments honoring Nazi collaborators and Ukrainian Rebel Military criminals nonetheless standing in Canadian cities.
Canada has additionally supported modern-day Nazis in Ukraine itself, by coaching members of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion on Canadian soil, though Canadian company media has lately tried to downplay this.
Radio Canada reported in April 2022 that the Canadian Armed Forces, “did contribute to the coaching of troopers of the Azov regiment in 2020, to the purpose the place this unit is now boasting of with the ability to prepare its personal troopers in response to Western requirements.” The Ottawa Citizen, writing about this report, cited a 2017 briefing by Canada’s Joint Job Drive Ukraine as saying, “A number of members of Azov have described themselves as Nazis.”
In November 2021, the identical Ottawa Citizen journalist wrote about Canadian officers assembly with leaders from the Azov Battalion in June 2018. Canadian officers and diplomats, “didn’t object to the assembly and as a substitute allowed themselves to be photographed with battalion officers regardless of earlier warnings that the unit noticed itself as pro-Nazi.”
Canada (along with the US and Ukraine itself) has repeatedly refused to assist UN resolutions in opposition to the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and racial discrimination, as they had been seen as concentrating on Kiev. An awesome majority of member states has supported these resolutions, with Kiev’s different Western backers (like all of the EU member states) and their allies (like Japan and New Zealand) abstaining.
If you happen to’ve adopted Canada’s unrepentant assist to Nazis, the parliament’s standing ovation for a former SS member turns into much less stunning. It set off a small storm, with outrage expressed not solely by Jewish rights activists and Moscow, but in addition by the Polish ambassador in Canada.
One can solely hope that there had been members of parliament who had been sincerely appalled to study they’d cheered for a Nazi. Nonetheless, now that the apologies have been made, the outrage will most certainly merely die down and Ottawa will proceed supporting the identical sort of individuals, so long as they’re on the identical facet within the West’s proxy warfare in opposition to Russia.
In spite of everything, as Canadian researcher Tamara Lorincz famous, whereas everybody applauded the Ukrainian Nazi, “Not one MP known as for peace, ceasefire & negotiations.” That’s the quiet half few are keen to say out loud – simply as Canada apparently accepted SS “refugees” as a result of they had been fighters in opposition to the Soviet Union’s communism, simply as Canada (and different Western powers) are keen to assist terrorists if they’re combating in opposition to an “undesirable” authorities within the Center East, so will Canada proceed to cowl for, give assist to, and fake to not discover a resurgence of one in every of historical past’s most atrocious ideologies so long as its adherents can be utilized in opposition to the present adversary – Russia.
For his half, Zelensky praised Canada for at all times being on the “shiny facet of historical past.” Simply to recap: Canada helped destroy Libya, Canada not directly supported terrorists in Syria in opposition to the nation’s elected president, Canada housed 2,000 Nazis after WW2, and Canada helps Nazis in Ukraine now. Zelensky’s definition of the brilliant (or proper) facet of historical past is peculiar to say the least.
The statements, views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of the writer and don’t essentially signify these of RT.
