Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons Anthony Rota resigned his post Tuesday, days after he praised a Ukrainian veteran who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II. <\/p>\n
On Friday, following a joint address to parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Rota lauded Yaroslav Hunka, 98, as a Ukrainian-Canadian war hero who \u201cfought for Ukrainian independence against the Russian aggressors then, and continues to support the troops today.\u201d <\/p>\n
But in the days since, human rights and Jewish organizations have condemned Rota\u2019s recognition, saying Hunka served in a Nazi military unit known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis house is above any of us, therefore I must step down as your speaker,\u201d Rota said in parliament Tuesday afternoon, reiterating his \u201cprofound regret for my error.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThat public recognition has caused pain to individuals and communities, including the Jewish community in Canada and around the world, in addition to survivors of Nazi atrocities in Poland, among other nations,\u201d Rota, who is a member of the Liberal party, added. \u201cI accept full responsibility for my actions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rota\u2019s recognition of Hunka last week prompted a standing ovation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the incident \u201cdeeply embarrassing.\u201d <\/p>\n
The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division was part of the Nazi SS organization declared a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1946, which determined the Nazi group had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. <\/p>\n
Jewish human rights organization B\u2019nai Brith Canada in a statement condemned the Ukrainian volunteers who served in the unit as \u201cultra-nationalist ideologues\u201d who \u201cdreamed of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state and endorsed the idea of ethnic cleansing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Recognizing Hunka was \u201cbeyond outrageous,\u201d B\u2019nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said, adding, \u201cWe cannot allow the whitewashing of history.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cCanadian soldiers fought and died to free the world from the evils of Nazi brutality,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Rota apologized in a statement Sunday and on the floor of parliament Tuesday, when he said he had \u201cbecome aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to recognize this individual.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rota took full responsibility, saying it was his decision alone to acknowledge Hunka, who Rota said is from his electoral district. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo one \u2013 not even anyone among you, fellow parliamentarians, or from the Ukrainian delegation \u2013 was privy to my intention or my remarks prior to their delivery,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n
Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons Anthony Rota resigned his post Tuesday, days after he praised a Ukrainian veteran who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II. On Friday, following a joint address to parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Rota lauded Yaroslav Hunka, 98, as a Ukrainian-Canadian war hero who <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}