No, and the Ukrainians are (legitimately) quite upset. Recall that Zelensky is ethnically Jewish, and has taken pains through his entire career to distance his government from far-right elements. Hunka is a resident of Rota’s (the Speaker) riding, which has a significant Ukrainian population. The idea appears to have come up through his constituency office - which is no excuse at all.
The average Canadian doesn’t realize that the Speaker is not controlled by the PM, and in the end, it doesn’t matter.
No. Who does it benefit? Not Zelensky, not Trudeau. The Speaker will probably not survive the week.
Frankly, it is in an odd way unfair even on the man honoured. By the end of WW2, he was 20. While his unit over the course of its existence participated in war crimes, there is no evidence that he was personally involved in anything - by the time he joined, it would have been a combat unit fighting a long retreat from Russia. He has had a quiet life in Canada for over seven decades since. Far better that he was never brought to the public eye like this.
This is so infuriating. Personally, I am several orders of magnitude more troubled by this than the situation with India.
There probably is no evidence because quite a lot of people make it a point to leave no evidence. He’s not the first person to avoid getting caught , won’t be the last one either.
Either way him joining the SS in itself is a red flag , the point on him committing crimes or not is besides the point.
A simple Wikipedia/Google search would have gotten all the information that’s required. Don’t even need the much vaunted 5 eyes intelligence network for that.
I do agree that considering his age right now , 98 years old , they shouldnt have brought him into this. Irrespective of whatever crimes he may or may not have committed.
It is also a simple matter of timing - by the time he was active, the Holocaust stage of that unit’s activities was largely done. But the simple fact of the matter is that he swore an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler. That’s enough. He may have led a good life since, he can perhaps be forgiven, but that episode of his life simply cannot be honoured.
Also the Russians weren’t the bad guys in that war. It would have been extremely difficult to defeat Hitler were it not for the sacrifices made by the Russians.
If he was fighting against Russia in WW2 , there was only the Axis powers that he could join. How do people even ignore that simple reasoning ?
And then the speaker said “A Canadian hero and an Ukranian hero”
It would have been something even Taika Waititi wouldn’t put out as a parody. But this became real life.
Needless to say , the speaker should in all probability resign.
Almost a thousand Canadian sailors and merchant marine died on the convoys through the Arctic Ocean to Murmansk and Archangel. The Speaker won’t last the week.
Sure but this is about someone in Canada gloryifying a Ukranian SS soldier who fought with the Nazis
I can understand him wanting to fight the Soviets. Even some Indian freedom fighters allied themselves to fight against the British.
I have nothing against him. Loads of people were pushed into wars out of necessity. But doesn’t mean that their life during that war needs to be glorified or honoured.
I didn’t say it did, but I was responding to your assertion that the Russians were “not the bad guys”. War very rarely has clean lines between antagonist and hero
