Canada, Embarrassing Itself -- Again

"In 2021, we discovered that one particular Nazi leader was being honoured by the memorial and it took us more than a year of very active advocacy efforts before his name was finally removed."

"We  told officials repeatedly that we believed there could be a great number of Nazis being commemorated but sadly this problem did not appear to be a priority for the department [Department of Canadian Heritage]."

"It [recent report commissioned by the department] finds that more than half of the individuals commemorated in the memorial may have been Nazis or Nazi collaborators."

"It is totally unacceptable for Nazis and collaborators to be honoured by a Canadian public memorial, especially one meant to recognize victims of state violence and tyranny."

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre 

"It is important to note that many anti-communist and anti-Soviet advocates and fighters were also active Nazi collaborators, who committed documented massacres."

Global Affairs Canada

"It has come to our attention that a number of entries that have been put forward for recognition may have been affiliated in some capacity to fascist and Nazi organizations."

"For example, some of the proposed individuals were linked to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its military, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army ... and to a lesser extent with Baltic nationalist groups [i.e., members of the Latvian SS]."

Tristan-E. Landry, deputy director, Canadian Heritage

The winning design for the Memorial to Victims of Communism. | Tribute to Liberty

 

Over half of the 550 names on the Memorial to the Victims of Communism should be removed as a result of information that identifies them with potential links to the Nazis; alternately with questions raised relating to possible affiliations with fascist groups, government records reveal. There were originally planned to be 553 entries on the Ottawa memorial's Wall of Remembrance.

However, 50 to 60 of the names or organizations were suspected of having direct links to the Nazis, the department had determined. Canadian Heritage's 2023 report recommended that over 330 names be excluded to ensure no future embarrassment, according to the records released through an access to information request by an investigative reporter. Given a lack of information about individuals or organizations and possible links to fascist organizations or the Nazis such exclusions were recommended.

Concerns were raised over the years by both Jewish organizations and historians over the potential for names of eastern Europeans who collaborated with the Nazis during the Holocaust who have been recommended in an effort to whitewash their past actions and affiliations. The unveiling of the memorial was placed on hold, reflecting the contretemps of members of the Canadian Parliament honouring a Ukrainian solder with the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a voluntary unit under the command of the Nazis, creating an international embarrassment.

 

At left, 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a veteran of Hitler’s SS, returns the salute from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Canadian Parliament. At Zelensky’s side, joining in the standing ovation for Hunka, is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. | Screengrab / AP

 

"The review of the commemorative elements is ongoing", stated a spokesperson for Canadian Heritage. Federal officials from other government departments warned Canadian Heritage that inclusion of Nazi collaborators on the memorial would be a cause for Canada of international embarrassment, doubling down on the stain to Canada's reputation occasioned by the House of Commons' failure to recognize World War II complexities to enable them to recognize that 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian-Canadian whose wartime unit had fought alongside Nazi SS units.

 

The CBC reported that private donations had been made to the monument in the names of Nazi collaborators. Roman Shukheych, a Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator was included along with Ante Pavelic who operated a Nazi puppet regime in Croatia, considered to have been a chief perpetrator of the Holocaust in the Balkans. Even Canadian Heritage officials themselves voiced their own concerns in internal messages.

In July 2020, the construction site for Ottawa’s 'Memorial to the Victims of Communism' was vandalized with the message 'Communism will win' and several hammer-and-sickles. The controversial memorial has now been confirmed to bear the names of more than 330 'victims' who were Nazis or fascist collaborators. | Photo via Tribute to Liberty on Facebook