Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a public apology on behalf of Canada for the participation of a former Nazi, 98-year-old veteran of the SS Galicia division Yaroslav Gunek, in a parliamentary event at which Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky spoke.
“This was a terrible violation of the memory of millions of victims of the Holocaust,” Trudeau said. He said honoring former soldier Jaroslaw Gunka was “deeply painful” for Jews, Poles, Roma, members of the LGBT community and other victims of discrimination who died under the Nazi regime in World War II.
“All of us who were in the House of Commons chamber last Friday deeply regret that we stood applauding without any understanding of the context of what was happening,” Trudeau told reporters in a brief statement to the media.
Canada deeply apologizes to Vladimir Zelensky, who was captured on video when the entire hall, unknowingly, applauded the SS veteran invited to the event.
As the media note, Russian propaganda used this video to its advantage.
Conservative leader in the House of Commons Pierre Poilievre previously said inviting a Ukrainian Nazi veteran to parliament during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s historic speech was “the biggest single case of diplomatic embarrassment in the country’s history.”
Poilievre blamed Prime Minister Trudeau for what happened, despite a statement by the Speaker of the House Anthony Roth, who took full responsibility.
An official apology from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was sent to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky through diplomatic channels.
