Canada's House Speaker resigns after honouring Nazi war veteran in Parliament
Canada’s Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, is resigning amid backlash for honouring a Nazi war veteran in Parliament.
“It is with a heavy heart that I rise to inform members of my resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons,” Rota said in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.
“It has been my greatest honour as a parliamentarian to have been elected by you, my peers to serve as the Speaker of the House of Commons for the 43rd and 44th parliament. I’ve acted as your humble servant of this house, carrying out the important responsibilities of this position to the very best of my abilities.”
This comes after Jewish organizations and several members of Parliament called for Rota to step down in the aftermath of the incident.
Last Friday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Ottawa and was welcomed by MPs in the House of Commons.
During this visit, 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka was introduced by House Speaker Rota as “a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians” and “a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero.”
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However, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) said the Speaker had “ignor[ed]” the fact that Hunka served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, “a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well-documented.”
The FSWC added it was “shocking” to see the veteran be invited to Ottawa and given a standing ovation.
On Tuesday morning, the Jewish human rights organization said that Rota must resign for “the credibility of the institution.”
“This incident has compromised all 338 Members of Parliament and has also handed a propaganda victory to Russia, distracting from what was a momentously significant display of unity between Canada and Ukraine,” reads the statement.
“It has also caused great pain to Canada’s Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, veterans and other victims of the Nazi regime,” the group added.
Rota released a statement on Sunday saying he regrets his decision to recognize Hunka and apologized to the Jewish communities in Canada.
The FSWC is also calling for public hearings and for Parliament to investigate vetting process failures and “propose measures to ensure that no such incident could ever happen again.”
With files from Nikitha Martins