This Listen Up! guest post is by Sally Barnes. Hugh Mackenzie will be taking a break from Listen Up! over the next few weeks.
An irreparable stain has been added to the Canadian postcard of friendly, law-abiding, peace-loving people, pristine mountains of snow, virgin forests, and sparkling lakes.
Recent headlines around the world have painted us as fools and Nazi lovers.
I wear my patriotism on my sleeve. I tear up when our Olympians win a gold medal and our flag is lowered to the playing of O Canada when a diverse group of grateful immigrants proudly swears allegiance to their new home, and old vets in uniforms and heavy coats shuffle their way to the local Cenotaph on Remembrance Day.
Veterans especially warm my heart because they represent generations of patriots who have been willing to lay down their lives to win and protect our rights and freedoms for future generations.
All of this brings us to a new political firestorm in Ottawa that started out with an innocent gesture by House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota to recognize and reward a constituent. This has cost Rota his prestigious job and reputation and thrown our government into turmoil.
It would be one of those “you can’t make this stuff up” moments if it wasn’t so serious and gut-wrenching for Canadians and people around the world who thought better of us and our country.
On Friday, September 22, in Parliament—a cherished symbol of our democracy—a packed house of our nation’s senior legislators and their special guests witnessed an assault so heinous that historians have generally agreed there has never been anything to rival it.
A 98-year-old virtually unknown veteran from North Bay represented by MP and House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota was introduced to the large audience, which included visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as a Second World War and Canadian “hero.”
The old soldier instantly turned into a rock star. Our parliamentarians and their guests, including Zelensky, turned their faces skyward to the public gallery and gave their guest two standing ovations and he responded with gratitude.
To make things worse, Rota thanked his guest for “all his service.”
It turns out this was only the storm before the cyclone that followed. The incident not only rained on Zelensky’s triumphant parade in which he thanked Canada for its support in the war with Russia and encouraged continued funding. It also handed Russian President Vladimir Putin considerable ammunition for his lying propaganda machine.
Parliamentary guest Yaroslav Hunka may have been a hero to some but not to Canada. “All his service” included fighting in Ukraine for the Germans against the Russians. It later emerged that Hunka fought with the 14th Waffen Division of the Nazi SS known for the killing and torturing of untold targets—including civilians– of the Nazi regime.
Holocaust survivors and victims and their families have reason to react with horror at the sight of a Nazi being celebrated in the Parliament of Canada. So does every, single Canadian—especially families of those who have fought on many battlefields over the years.
It is embarrassing that an enemy who was part of the most evil regime of genocide in world history was not just at our gate but welcomed in to sit at the head of the table and praised to the hilt by a room full of Canada’s political leaders, including military brass.
To those who know their history, Canada earlier won a black eye for turning away the HMS St. Louis loaded with 937 passengers, most of them Jews, attempting to flee Nazi persecution in Europe in the build-up to WW 2. Because of our antisemitic immigration policies at the time, Canada, Cuba, and the U.S. refused most of them admission, the ship returned to Europe and it’s estimated at least one-third of those aboard were killed in the Holocaust.
With studies showing an increase today in antisemitism in Canada and elsewhere, leaders in the Jewish community are calling on Ottawa to initiate a policy to open war records to reveal how many former Nazi leaders have been allowed into Canada.
Historian Irving Abella is often quoted as saying: “Following the war, it was easier to immigrate to Canada if you were a Nazi than if you were a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust.”
The U.S. and U.K. have made their war crime documents public while Canada’s remain sealed.
It will not be an easy process. Truth to tell, there may be a significant number of Canadians—including some in high places—who don’t want their family history exposed. Think, for example, of leaders of the political, corporate, military, and social world who might have wondered what their relatives did during the war but may regret finding out the truth and its ramifications.
Meanwhile, former Speaker Anthony Rota says he had no knowledge of Hunka’s war record. One report suggested the old man’s son approached Rota’s staff in his North Bay office with the request that his father be included in the parliamentary ceremony to honour the visiting Ukrainian president.
Somewhat naively and perhaps suffering from a bout of hubris, Rota proceeded without further ado. As Speaker, he was not required to seek approval or even notify anyone in advance about who was on his guest list for the event.
The independence of Commons Speaker Rota from political parties and partisan influences such as the Prime Minister’s Office is sacrosanct in his role as arbiter.
That the former Nazi could be treated with such reverence and without apparent regard for the safety of the Ukrainian Prime Minister, is something hard to understand in today’s world of social unrest, terrorism, assassination, and deadly wars. None of the political parties were advised that the Speaker would invite and introduce his constituent in the Commons.
Critics tried to nail Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his staff for allowing this apparent breach of security but parliamentary experts were quick to point out that the Speaker is independent, elected by, and reporting only to, the Commons, and that the Prime Minister has no right to approve the guest lists of MPs, who regularly invite guests to their offices and Commons procedures.
In light of this whole fiasco, Rota, an MP since 2004 and a highly regarded parliamentarian and popular Speaker has apologized to everyone, including President Zelenskyy, and has resigned from his post and its many perks. His future remains undetermined.
No one believes he knowingly made the mistake of failing to question his guest’s credentials or that his apologies are anything but heartfelt. It’s clear that he recognizes the damage he has done to Canada’s reputation and to Ukraine’s determined efforts to save itself from the parasitic Putin.
If nothing else, the whole episode has reminded us of the dangers of extremism, the high cost of racism and intolerance, and what can happen when people lose trust in their democratic institutions and leaders, and anger and fear replace hope and faith.
Sally Barnes has enjoyed a distinguished career as a writer, journalist and author. Her work has been recognized in a number of ways, including receiving a Southam Fellowship in Journalism at Massey College at the University of Toronto. A self-confessed political junkie, she has worked in the back-rooms for several Ontario premiers. In addition to a number of other community contributions, Sally Barnes served a term as president of the Ontario Council on the Status of Women. She is a former business colleague of Doppler’s publisher, Hugh Mackenzie, and lives in Kingston, Ontario. You can find her online at sallybarnesauthor.com.
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One thing for sure, Mr. Hunka was not a Nazi, that affiliation was restricted to German nationals. Yes he did join the German army because they were fighting the enemy of the Ukraine – Stalinist Russia. Russia had occupied the Ukraine with a repressive regime that sent hundreds of thousands to prison camps in Siberia and killed an estimated 3.9 million Ukrainians in what is considered to be an act of genocide.. Russia was the enemy of the Ukraine not Germany. There are conflicting accounts about what actions Mr. Hunka may or may not have been involved in. One thing is certain, he has never been found guilty of a war crime. On the contrary he is considered a Ukrainian war hero. Our blunder has been an ignorance of history.
Mr. Markle; “… but what is to be gained by picking at the scab?” I understand what you mean.
However, what is to be gained? Humility, remembrance, and hopefully second sober thoughts – I think these can be important learning experiences.
This unfortunate but horrible incident has opened up a number of issues to which we must be aware (dare I say “woke”). Both ideologies of Nazism/Facism and Communism were elements of WW11 and the Cold War to follow. Carving out a democratic, messy at times, position is not always easy.
Thank you for reminding us of Canada’s part in turning away HMS St. Louis with Jewish refugees fleeing Germany. It is so essential that We Remember such injustice we have displayed to race and culture.
Your article points out how non-binary we are as human beings, how un-computer-like we need to be – better to be programmed toward nuance and understanding. However, I don’t mean that there are not
times to state a position. Sally, I think you have tried to capture just such nuance and balance in your writing, thank you.
As we watch with sadness the middle east crisis and conflict erupt again, recognize that we are on a small planet, recognize we must be vigilant in the reporting and information we consume. Peace-makers seem to be in short supply when hardened extremist positions (anywhere, anytime) lash out.
Sadly, the leadership and ignorance of the Trump years did little to exemplify a working knowledge and diplomacy in international affairs.
I agree with Paul Whillans in the case of one old soldier and those who recoil from the scars and scabs of history. There is no race, color, religion or creed that doesn’t bear the marks and wounds of the its own past. And we can erase not an instant of it.
We found a Nazi regime guilty of murdering some 6,000,000 Jews, but a man and government who worked hard to starve some 4,000,000 Ukrainians to death, becomes an ally. That’s history. None of us are aware of all the flaws of our past.
The representatives of 39 million (?) Canadians plus guests rose in our Commons to applaud a man who for an instant, as Sally Barnes tells us, achieved ‘rock-star’ status. Simply because most or none of them were aware of that particular scar. Upon being made ‘aware’, the gasping and oh-mying begins.
Will we now enact a commission to find someone at fault for all this? An individual to blame for most of our having been unaware of the actions of that particular, or every old soldier? We can do nothing to change our past, even though we will find some of it contains inconvenient flaws and embarrassments.
We can become aware of our past and hopefully learn from it, but what’s to be gained from picking at the scab?
This “firestorm” is just another minor and ridiculous example of predatory, “gothca” politics so prevalent today.
Hunka at 98 spent his 18th and 19th years of his life as a nazi in order to fight communists taking over his country. For the most part of this life, he has been a real life hero to Ukrainian Canadians.
I have no knowledge as to whether or not he raped and pillaged along with his SS Galizien comrades. And of course I agree that the German Nazis were “an evil regime of genocide”. But surely not all 18 million German soldiers were equally culpable. And we have seen wartime atrocities committed by every nation on earth.
But those who raised this story to “irreparable stain” have lost all vestige of humanity. The only embarrassment that Canada should feel, is the prospect that redemption is not possible in Canada.
Could it be that he was forced to collaborate? The Nazis were not known to give people in eastern occupied areas much choice.
Well said as usual!