After Canada honored a Ukrainian who fought for the SS Galicia Division during a session of parliament, Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek wants the man, Yaroslav Hunka, investigated, which could pave the way for Hunka’s extradition to Poland for crimes against Poles.
Hunka was honored in the Canadian parliament last week in the presence of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The now 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka was a member of the SS Galicia unit, established by Germany’s Third Reich, which was reportedly involved in crimes against Polish and Jewish civilians. These facts were brought to the public’s attention by Prof. Ivan Kachanovski of the University of Ottawa.
Anthony Rota, the speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, has now resigned over the incident. He said he was unaware of Hunka’s controversial past during his visit on Sept. 22 to the Ottawa parliament.
During that session, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to Hunka as a “Ukrainian and Canadian hero.”
Even though Rota and Trudeau have both apologized for honoring the Nazi veteran, Poland has taken issue over the fact that nothing was said about Poland or Poles who were the victims of the activities of SS Galicia.
Irek Kusmierczyk, a Canadian MP of Polish origin, protested against the honoring of the SS soldier in the chamber.
Poland’s ambassador to Canada, Witold Dzielski, told Canadian journalists on Monday that during Trudeau and Rota’s apology, no mention had been made of Poland and the Poles despite the fact that they, along with Jews, were the victims of the activities of the SS Galicia troops.
“Apologies are important, but I expect these statements to be historically accurate because Poles in the homeland, as well as the million-strong Polish community in Canada, are still quite upset that words like ‘Poland’ or ‘Poles’ were simply omitted from these comments; and that’s not right,” said Ambassador Dzielski on CTV News.
The Polish ambassador met Rota on Monday before he resigned from his position to brief him fully on the relevant history surrounding the issue
