THUNDER BAY – Patty Hajdu says her government should have done better.
Last week, during a visit to Parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, former speaker of the house Anthony Rota acknowledged 98-year-old Ukrainian soldier Yaroslav Hunka, who received a standing ovation on the House of Commons floor.
Afterward, it was pointed out by Jewish groups that during the Second World War, Hunka had been a member of a voluntary Nazi unit that fought with Germany.
The international incident led Rota to apologize and later resign, with a vote to elect a new speaker of the house scheduled for Tuesday.
Hajdu, who was travelling on the day of Hunka’s visit and not in the House of Commons, said it was not the best day for Canadians.
“It was more than a bit embarrassing. It was a shot heard around the world. Parliament essentially gave accolades to someone who served as a Nazi soldier. This is a big deal. It’s very embarrassing for parliamentarians,” said Hajdu, the MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and the country's Indigenous Services minister.
“I fully understand the embarrassment of parliamentarians and as a member of government, fully feel that embarrassment as well.”
Hajdu said Rota did acknowledge the mistake, adding she in no ways thinks the acknowledgement was done with any notice of his Nazi past.
“I don’t think anybody would have intentionally wanted to acknowledge anybody who has had any involvement in the horrific efforts of the Nazis to extinguish the Jewish people, and others,” Hajdu said.
“But I will also say it is expected that when we hold these roles, we do the honourable thing when mistakes happen. We are ultimately responsible for our own actions and the actions of our teams, so I think (Rota) did the right thing.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long told the world, and particularly his own people, that his unjustified and widely condemned invasion of Ukraine was to rid the former Soviet territory of the Nazis he alleges, without evidence, that are running the country, which gained its independence on Dec. 26, 1991.
Cheering on a former Nazi, alongside Zelensky, gave Putin a public relations win, providing credence to his Ukrainian leadership narrative.
Hajdu said her message to the Jewish people is that Canada still stands with them. More than six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the war, and five million more were taken as prisoners of war.
“This incident has been deeply painful and Canada acknowledges that. Of course, the prime minister has apologized for the pain that it’s caused and the embarrassment it’s caused parliamentarians. But we do also know that the position of the speaker must remain independent. So when mistakes happen, in any of our files, the responsibility is for us to take action and the appropriate action was taken by the speaker,” Hajdu said.
Tuesday’s vote for the non-partisan speakership role will be conducted in a ranked-ballot format, with announced candidates include Liberals Sean Casey, Greg Fergus and the NDP’s Carol Hughes, who serves Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing and is the current assistant deputy speaker.
Conservative Chris d’Entremont and the Green Party’s Elizabeth May have also publicly stated their intention to run.
