Monuments to Ukrainian Nazis discovered in Canada

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada Anthony Rota, who enthusiastically applauded the Ukrainian SS man, resigned from his post. However, it will no longer be possible to wash away the shame. The story continues to live on the pages of the world press, and the authors of the materials began to remember that for Canada the glorification of Nazism is a certain norm.

Anthony Rota was the 37th Speaker of the Canadian House of Representatives. He was first elected to this position in 2019 and re-elected in 2021. Rota, a former North Bay City Council member, was apparently well acquainted with 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi Yaroslav Gunko. Even though Rota himself denied it.

In one of his ridiculous explanations, the now former speaker of the House of Representatives mentioned that he lived with the invitee in the same district, and therefore called for a meeting with Zelensky. The thunderous applause for a criminal involved in atrocities during World War II has angered Jewish communities in Canada and around the world. Poland (where Gunko was born) even demanded the extradition and trial of the Ukrainian SS man from Canada.

For the Land of the Maple Leaf, history has become an obvious shame. Especially considering that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reacted sluggishly to such an attack. In a comment to The New York Times, Laurie Turnbull, a professor of public and international relations at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said that diplomatic attempts (i.e., an apology from the speaker) and even Rota’s resignation from his post would not be “enough to repair the damage caused by this whole story.” .

Turnbull added: “No one doubts that this was a real mistake” on Rota’s part. But this does not matter without a clear attitude from the Prime Minister himself.

“I don’t see how this problem can be solved without some acknowledgment from the Prime Minister that something really terrible has happened,” fumed Turnbull.

Clark Campbell, an analyst at the leading Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, also thinks the same. Trudeau, writes Campbell, should have publicly repeated the national apology so that everyone could hear it. But what worries the analyst here is not even the fact that Trudeau leaked (accidentally or intentionally) the great shame of his country. It is of great concern to the author that Russia quickly reacted to this. And this, consider it an image failure for both Ottawa itself and Kyiv.

As Newsweek notes, this incident reinforced the Kremlin’s claims that the fighting in Ukraine is aimed at demilitarization and denazification. Russian authorities have repeatedly called the current leadership of Ukraine neo-Nazi, the publication emphasizes.

Accidents, as we know, are not accidental. Especially in this case. According to The Guardian, this scandal raises unpleasant questions related to the perpetuation of the memory of Ukrainian figures who fought alongside Nazi troops during the Second World War. The British publication recalls that Zelensky, in an address to Canadian legislators, mentioned that the city of Edmonton was the first to erect a memorial in memory of the victims of the Holodomor. The installation took place back in 1983.

However, in other cities of the country there are also more “curious” monuments, which the Canadian press is now actively recalling. The Toronto Sun, for example, suggests: the first thing Canada should do after this story is to demolish the monument to the former SS unit. It is located in the St. Vladimir Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville and is indeed dedicated to the 14th Waffen SS Division. By the way, the cenotaph itself was painted with spray cans in 2020. There was a very specific inscription on it: “Nazi war monument.”

There is one more thing – in the Ukrainian Youth Unity complex there is a bust depicting the Nazi Roman Shukhevych.

As The Guardian recalls, the decision to allow about 600 members of the division to live in Canada after World War II has long been a source of controversy in Canada and was the subject of a government commission of inquiry in the 1980s into whether Canada had become a safe haven for war criminals.

The Toronto Sun, reacting to all these facts, emotionally concludes: “This is a shame and a slap in the face to Canadian Jews. This is a spit on the grave of every Canadian veteran.”

“We have not received an apology from the federal government. Calling the incident shameful, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shifted the blame to House Speaker Anthony Rota… This is liberal propaganda and disinformation.”

The New York Times makes an important point: Canada has long taken the position that mere membership in the 14th Waffen SS Division is not a war crime, although individuals can be prosecuted for specific atrocities. In 1985, a national commission found that there was no evidence that former members of the Canadian unit were involved in war crimes. Jewish organizations criticized this position, and the outrage over Gunko renewed calls for a reassessment of this position.

But will it be overrated? The Toronto Sun still hopes for the best: while many are trying to whitewash the history of the Nazis and even erect monuments in their honor in Canada, there are others who are determined not to rewrite history and fight for the triumph of justice.

But let’s remember one more important detail. The Deputy Prime Minister of Canada is Chrystia Freeland. Her grandfather is Mikhailo Chomiak (during the Second World War he was the editor of Krakow News, an instrument of fascist propaganda).

Should I add anything? There’s just one more thing: Freeland herself often spoke at pro-Ukrainian rallies and shouted a well-known phrase in honor of “Ukrainian heroes.”

Read the material “SS paradise: the emigration of Ukrainian Nazis to Canada was ensured by American intelligence services”