Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government blasted for giving two standing ovations to a veteran Waffen-SS Nazi days before Yom Kippur
It turns out that unrestrained eugenics is not the only thing out of the Third Reich that Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party of Canada has found cause to celebrate.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address to the Canadian Parliament on Friday, Liberal House Speaker Anthony Rota lavished praise on a 98-year-old who had served with Heinrich Himmler's Waffen-SS in World War II. Trudeau and his socialist ally Jagmeet Singh, head of the NDP, joined Rota and their respective parties in honoring the Nazi veteran with two standing ovations just days ahead of Yom Kippur.
Critics, including the leaders of various Jewish groups, have unloaded on the Canadian government — especially on the Trudeau Liberals who have previously had troubling ties with anti-Semites and accused those with whom they've disagreed of being Nazis.
A Nazi on Parliament Hill
House Speaker Rota, a parliamentary member of Trudeau's Liberal Party, invited Yaroslav Hunka to Parliament, introducing him Friday as a war hero "who fought [for] the Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today."
"I am very proud to say that he is from North Bay and from my riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming," Rota said of Hunka. "He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service."
Members of Parliament jumped to their feet, applauding the emotional Nazi veteran who responded with dual thumbs up.
The Western Standard reported that among those cheering on Hunka was Ya'ara Saks, a Liberal member of Parliament who previously accusedthe peaceful trucker convoy protesters of being Nazis, claiming that "honk honk" "is an acronym for 'heil Hitler.'"
Trudeau, who similarly cheered on the Nazi veteran, previously accusedConservative politicians who supported the trucker convoy of standing with "people who wave swastikas" whilst his own government discussedpossibly using German Leopard 2 tanks on unarmed protesters.
Although sympathetic to the Liberal Party, Canadian state media later conceded that Hunka had served under Nazi command in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a voluntary unit also known as the SS 14th Waffen Division or the First Ukrainian Division.
According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, the Waffen-SS was "heavily involved in the commission of the Holocaust through their participation in mass shootings, anti-partisan warfare, and in supplying guards for Nazi concentration camps."
Hunka's unit also committed atrocities against the Polish resistance during the war and committed massacres of adults and children alike, such as in the village of Huta Pieniacka.
Hunka's unit was deemed a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.
Backlash
While Rota evidently has trouble differentiating between Nazi veterans and the Canadian war heroes who helped ensure their defeat, others suffered no such difficulty.
B'nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn noted that Hunka's unite comprised "ultra-nationalist ideologues" who "dreamed of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state and endorsed the idea of ethnic cleansing," reported CTV News.
"We understand an apology is forthcoming. We expect a meaningful apology. Parliament owes an apology to all Canadians for this outrage, and a detailed explanation as to how this could possibly have taken place at the centre of Canadian democracy," added Mostyn.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wrote on X, "Canada's Jewish community stands firmly with Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression. But we can't stay silent when crimes committed by Ukrainians during the Holocaust are whitewashed."
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies statedSunday, "The fact that a veteran who served in a Nazi military unit was invited to and given a standing ovation in Parliament is shocking. At a time of rising antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, it is incredibly disturbing to see Canada's Parliament rise to applaud an individual who was a member of a unit in the Waffen-SS, a Nazi military branch responsible for the murder of Jews and others and that was declared a criminal organization during the Nuremberg Trials."
"There should be no confusion that this unit was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable," added FSWC.
Sebastian Skamski, spokesman for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's office, said, "We find the reports of this individual's history very troubling," adding that Trudeau's Liberals had some explaining to do.
Poilievre said in a statement, "This is an appalling error in judgement on the part of Justin Trudeau, whose personal protocol office is responsible for arranging and vetting all guests and programming for state visits of this kind."
"No parliamentarians (other than Justin Trudeau) had the opportunity to vet this individual's past before he was introduced and honoured on the floor of the House of Commons," added Poilievre. "Without warning or context, it was impossible for any parliamentarian in the room (other than Mr. Trudeau) to know of this dark past."
Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the socialistic NDP whose support ensures Trudeau's Liberal Party won't have to face an election, said, "This event has caused harm to the Jewish community and for that, I am sorry. ... We must all stand together against the rising tide of anti-Semitism."
Apologies and blame
After it was revealed that the Liberal speaker had championed a former Nazi in the people's Parliament, Trudeau's office rushed to displace blame.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office stated, "The independent Speaker of the House has apologized and accepted full responsibility for issuing the invitation and for the recognition in Parliament. This was the right thing to do."
Rota jumped on the proverbial Waffen-SS grenade, claiming the initiative was "entirely my own."
"I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision," said Rota. "I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them."
Trudeau's Liberals appear to have had issues distancing themselves from anti-Semitic causes in recent years.
Trudeau's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, granddaughter of a Nazi collaborator, was accused last year of posing with a "pro-Nazi" banner, reported the Post.
Freeland had apparently held up the colors of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army at a protest last year — contentious because one of its factions, led by Stepan Bandera, allied with the Nazis and murdered thousands of Jews and around 100,000 Poles.
TheBlaze previously reported that the Trudeau Liberal government also gave a sizable taxpayer-funded grand to a purported anti-racism advocacy group in 2022 that turned out to have a raging anti-Semite as a top consultant.
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