The Canadian parliament made headlines around the world after it gave a standing ovation to a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian Nazi soldier. Yaroslav Hunka, a volunteer member of the Nazi battalion Waffen-SS Galicia Division – a unit infamous for its role in massacring civilians during World War Two – was also afforded a private meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The backlash this week led to the resignation of the speaker of the Canadian House of Commons and an apology from Trudeau. Yet, in his mea culpa, Trudeau insisted that this was just another reason to push back against Russian propaganda.
However, it certainly was not Vladimir Putin who convinced the Liberal Party of Canada to invite a literal Nazi soldier who is now wanted for extradition by Poland. This was not an honest mistake. In fact, the Hunka affair is merely the latest example of Canada’s close collaboration with World War Two-era Nazis.
Even though Canada fought against Germany in that conflict, after the war, it actively sought out thousands of SS Nazis, offering them Canadian citizenship. It did this because it wanted to use them as hired muscle against its growing communist labor movement and to police its large and mostly progressive Ukrainian-Canadian community. These Nazis had no qualms about using violence or other devious tactics and were used as police informants, sending the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence on left-wing activities across Canada.
Many of these Ukrainian fascists’ descendants have gained significant political influence inside Canada. One example is former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is proud of her grandfather, a high-ranking Nazi propagandist during World War Two.
The collaboration with Ukrainian fascists continues to this day, with the country funding, arming and training a range of far-right groups in Ukraine to fight against Russia.
For more on this story, watch Mnar Adley’s full rundown exclusively at “MintPress News.”
Mnar Adley is founder, CEO and editor in chief of MintPress News, and is also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, neoconservativism within the media and journalism start-ups. She started her career as an independent multimedia journalist covering Midwest and national politics while focusing on civil liberties and social justice issues posting her reporting and exclusive interviews on her blog MintPress, which she later turned MintPress into the global news source it is today. In 2009, Adley also became the first American woman to wear the hijab to anchor/report the news in American media. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com. Follow Mnar on Twitter at @mnarmuh