Canada’s House speaker quits: What the Hunka scandal reveals about Second World War complexities

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 11:46:49 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/canadas-house-speaker-quits-what-the-hunka-scandal-reveals-about-second-world-war-complexities-214339>

"Anthony Rota, the speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, has resigned from his
post after inviting “war hero” Yaroslav Hunka to Parliament to take in the
recent appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

That invitation — and the two subsequent standing ovations Hunka received from
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, MPs of all parties and Zelenskyy — ignited an
international uproar.

Hunka, now 98, served in a Nazi unit known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier
Division of the SS, fighting alongside Germany in the Second World War. The
unit reportedly participated in a massacre of Jews and ethnic Poles.

Jewish organizations and Poland demanded an apology from the Canadian
government and Poland says it’s taking steps to extradite Hunka.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has also accused Trudeau of being
responsible for Hunka’s invitation.

In Moscow, the Kremlin maintained it was “outrageous” that Canada honoured a
Nazi as a hero."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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