Toronto: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologised for parliament’s recognition of a man who fought alongside the Nazis during last week’s address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trudeau said the speaker of the House of Commons, who resigned on Tuesday, was “solely responsible” for the invitation and recognition of the man but said it was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada.
“All of us who were in the House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped, even though we did so unaware of the context,” Trudeau said on Wednesday before he entered the House of Commons.
“It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust, and was deeply, deeply painful for Jewish people.”
Trudeau repeated the apology in parliament.
Just after Zelensky delivered an address in the House of Commons on Friday, Canadian lawmakers gave 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation when Speaker Anthony Rota drew attention to him. Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.
Observers over the weekend began to publicise the fact that the First Ukrainian Division also was known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis.
Read the article by in The Sydney Morning Herald.