Oops! Canadian Parliament Accidentally Gives Nazi Standing Ovation

No, this isn’t some weird viral marketing for an Office-style show about the Canadian government (although, huge potential, would def watch). This is real life, because we are in the most ridiculous timeline.

During a visit to the Canadian House of Commons by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, House speaker Anthony Rota thought it would be nice to honor a man with a history of fighting Russians. So he introduced 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka 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.”

Those of you even nominally versed in history probably noticed something hinky there: during World War II, Russia was actually on the right side of history (more or less). So if Hunka was fighting against the Russians, who exactly was he fighting for. . . ?

Nazis. The answer is Nazis. 

Hunka was a member of the mostly-volunteer 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division, which stands accused of having killed Jewish and Polish civilians. Hunka VOLUNTEERED for the opportunity to participate in ethnic cleansing. 

Rota, understandably, released a public apology after these details emerged, which is literally the least he could do. But one has to wonder how this slipped through the cracks– even the most basic, rudimentary knowledge of history should’ve prompted some “Hang on a sec, let’s make sure this guy wasn’t a Nazi” type questions.

But alas, it did not. Instead, we were treated to the spectacle of both Canada’s prime minister and the Jewish president of Ukraine applauding Hunka, who, again, is LITERALLY A NAZI. That’s where we are now.