New Democrat MP Peter Julian is calling for House Speaker Anthony Rota to resign amid controversy following the decision to honour in Parliament a former soldier who fought for the Nazis. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are questioning how the Prime Minister’s Office could have overlooked the man’s history.
“Unfortunately, I believe a sacred trust has been broken,” Mr. Julian said in the House of Commons on Sept. 25.
“It’s for that reason, for the good of the institution of the House of Commons that I say, sadly, I don’t believe you can continue in this role. Regrettably, I must respectfully ask that you step aside.”
On Sept. 22, a former member of the Waffen SS, a Nazi division accused of war crimes during the Second World War, received a standing ovation from all MPs present during Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Parliament. Ukrainian-Canadian Yaroslav Hunka was referred to as a “Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero,” by Mr. Rota, who is a Liberal MP.
Mr. Rota apologized two days later, on Sept. 24, saying in a statement that the decision to recognize Mr. Hunka “was entirely my own, the individual in question being from my riding and having been brought to my attention.” Mr. Rota also extended his “deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world.”
In the House of Commons on Sept. 25, Mr. Rota expanded on his apology to add he was “deeply sorry” to have “offended many in line with [his] gesture and remarks.” The house speaker added that Mr. Hunka was from his riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming, and that none of the MPs were aware of his remarks prior to their delivery.
Mr. Julian said earlier in the day the incident had “hurt many people across the country,” and the NDP caucus wanted Mr. Rota to step down.
“We have never had a situation where somebody who was introduced by the speaker was not worthy of the honour of being greeted by the House of Commons,” Mr. Julian told reporters in Ottawa.
“I simply do not have confidence, my NDP caucus does not have confidence in the speaker moving forward. It’s not something that I do with joy,” he added.
During the World War II, Mr. Hunka fought with the First Ukrainian Division, which is another name for the 4th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a military wing of the Nazi Party. During the Nuremberg Trials following the war, the International Military Tribunal declared the Waffen SS a criminal organization that carried out mass atrocities.
Liberal MP and House Leader Karina Gould called Mr. Rota’s decision to invite the former Waffen SS member to Parliament “deeply embarrassing.” Ms. Gould said that, as a Jewish Canadian, she felt “particularly hurt by this.”
“I think this unfortunate situation has been deeply embarrassing for Canada’s parliament,” Ms. Gould said in the House on Sept. 25, adding that parliamentarians should work together to strike the recognition of Mr. Hunka from the record.
Tories Say ‘Many Questions’ Remain
Conservative MP and Opposition House Leader Andrew Scheer called the recognition of Mr. Hunka a “very grave incident” in the context of Russia’s “unjust, illegal” invasion of Ukraine back in February 2022. But he said every aspect of the Ukrainian president’s visit to Ottawa would have been managed by the Prime Minister’s Office and questioned how they “so completely dropped the ball on this.”“In this case, it would have taken a simple Google search to find a blog post written by that individual saying that he served in an SS Division, in a Nazi Division during World War II. And again, all those resources are available to the government,” Mr. Scheer said.
“The entire reporting structure of the parliamentary precinct services here flows up to the government. That’s why we still have many, many questions and this issue does not end with your statement or your apology,” Mr. Scheer added.
Ms. Gould reiterated that “neither the government nor the Ukrainian delegation had any prior knowledge” that Mr. Hunka would be honoured in the House of Commons.
“We were all caught off-guard by this. I’m not trying to collectivize responsibility. I’m trying to lay the facts on the table,” she said.
On Sept. 24, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of having met with Mr. Hunka before he was honoured in the House of Commons.
“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,” Mr. Poilievre said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mr. Trudeau told reporters the incident was “deeply embarrassing to the Parliament of Canada and by extension all Canadians,” and that it was “extremely upsetting that this happened.”
