Canadian House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota resigned on Tuesday in the wake of widespread criticism for his decision to invite a Nazi veteran to an event with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
On Monday, Rota issued an apology for extending an invitation to 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka to attend Zelensky’s address to Canadian lawmakers on Friday but initially refused to step down from his position.
Despite the initial support for Hunka from lawmakers of all political parties, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the calls for Rota’s resignation intensified over the weekend, as the incident received global condemnation, particularly from the governments of Russia and Poland.
Rota eventually announced his resignation on Tuesday afternoon, stating that he would vacate his position at the end of Wednesday’s session.
The article below over the Polish Minister’s reaction to the Canadian Parliament’s display of poor judgement plays into the current theme of Poland’s sudden and decisive hostility to all things Ukrainian. It’s one of those significant turn-arounds we’re seeing. This surely suggests cleavage at the NATO level and even far higher.
We wonder if such a misstep by the Canadian Parliament was even organized in advance to give Poland another excuse to go on the attack from an entirely different angle, in addition to an alleged grain import problem and refusing to supply Ukraine with more weapons.
Notice how the notorious Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has remained silent over this, despite protests from Jewish sources. Another angle on the agenda playing out?
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Polish Minister Has ‘Taken Steps’ To Extradite Ukrainian Nazi Veteran Honored By Trudeau Govt
A high ranking Polish government official is pressing for Warsaw to begin an extradition request for Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian who served the Nazi SS Galizien formation in WWII.
Hunka was hailed as a “Ukrainian hero” and a “Canadian hero” by Justin Trudea’s government days ago, receiving a standing ovation in the House of Commons also as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky looked on and cheered.
Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek announced on Tuesday he has “taken steps” to initiate the extradition of Hunka to Poland for possible war crimes.
Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek
“In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian Parliament, which involved honoring, in the presence of President Zelenskyy, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland,” Czarnek said in a Tuesday social media post.
Canadian public broadcaster CBC has confirmed the Polish minister’s announcement, saying it adds pressure to growing calls for Speaker Anthony Rota to step down, after he took responsibility for inviting and failing to properly vet the Nazi war veteran:
Opposition parties said it’s not enough for Rota to apologize for inviting Hunka to the day’s festivities. NDP MP Peter Julian, the party’s House leader, said “regretfully and sadly” Rota cannot continue in his role after this incident.
“The Speaker has to be above reproach,” Julian said. “This is an unforgivable error that puts the entire House in disrepute. Unfortunately, I believe a sacred trust has been broken.”
Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek’s announcement saying legal extradition is being pursued:
Wobec skandalicznych wydarzeń w kanadyjskim parlamencie polegających na uhonorowaniu w obecności także prezydenta Zełenskiego członka zbrodniczej, hitlerowskiej formacji SS Galizien, podjąłem kroki w kierunku ewentualnej ekstradycji tego człowieka do Polski.… https://t.co/92qK1voktNpic.twitter.com/5J4lljH5JX
The letter says, according to a translation: “In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian parliament, which involved honoring, in the presence of President Zelensky, a member of the criminal Nazi SS Galizien formation, I have taken steps towards the possible extradition of this man to Poland.”
Czarnek has submitted the letter to the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) – which is a government historical body possessing prosecutorial powers – demanding an investigation to “urgently [establish] whether Yaroslav Hunka is wanted for crimes against the Polish nation or Poles of Jewish origin.”
“Such crimes constitute grounds for applying to Canada for his extradition,” the letter emphasizes. The issue is particularly sensitive for Poles given the WWII history of massacres of Poles by Ukrainian nationalist groups, many of them Nazis. All of this also comes as Ukraine-Poland relations are deeply strained for the first time since the Russian invasion over a grain import ban. Warsaw also said it is done arming Ukraine, and will invest in its own defense preparedness.
Yaroslav Hunka being honored in Canadian Parliament.
According to regional news source Notes From Poland, there were hundreds of Ukrainian SS veterans who were allowed to settle in Canada:
Hunka himself was among around 600 members of the division who were allowed to settle in Canada after the war. He is now a dual Ukrainian-Canadian citizen.
In the 1980s, a Canadian commission of inquiry found that “charges of war crimes” against the Ukrainian SS division had “never” been substantiated.
In 2017, Polish IPN prosecutors requested the extradition from the United States of another member of the Ukrainian SS division, Michael Karkoc, who had settled in Minnesota after the war. However, he passed away in 2019 aged 100 before the process could be completed.
Needless to say this adds yet more levels of embarrassment for Trudeau and Canadian officials. Not only has the story gone viral and gained international attention and condemnation from leading Jewish groups – but notably the ADL has remained completely silent.
How — after a lifetime of appearing in black face — does Justin Trudeau get caught applauding an SS soldier who fought with the Nazis, and then instantly starts babbling about “Russian disinformation”?
Do you see how Western elites use RUSSIA to blame for all their failings? https://t.co/yAIYr93ody
Trudeau has meanwhile tried to refocus this as a warning against “Russian disinformation” in a transparent attempt to deflect controversy which even mainstream media has seen through(ER: significant, we believe). At the same time, some Left politicians in Canadian parliament are seeking to get the whole incident expunged from official records, as we detailed earlier.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald questioned, “How — after a lifetime of appearing in black face — does Justin Trudeau get caught applauding an SS soldier who fought with the Nazis, and then instantly starts babbling about “Russian disinformation”?”
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