The House of Commons Affairs Committee — behind closed doors —agreed to public hearings about how Ukrainian Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka was given a hero’s welcome in Parliament, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “Deal with this matter openly and transparently to get to the bottom of one of the greatest international embarrassments,” said Conservative MP Michael Cooper (St. Albert-Edmonton, AB) at a Commons Affairs Committee hearing. Liberal MPs had objected to open discussion of the incident. The Commons Affairs Committee said it agreed to the probe “given the hurt and international embarrassment created by allowing a former soldier of a Nazi military unit in the Second World War to attend and be recognized during the President of Ukraine’s special address to Parliament on September 22.”The motion did not summon former speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota for questioning. Rota said in September he made a mistake by honouring Hunka in the House of Commons gallery.READ MORE: UPDATED: House of Commons speaker apologizes for bringing Nazi to Zelensky speech“I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision to do so,” said Rota. “I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or my remarks before I delivered them.”Rota stepped down after honouring Hunka in September. READ MORE: UPDATED: Rota resigns as speaker of the house over Ukrainian Nazi scandal“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,” he said. “I have acted as your humble servant of this house, carrying out the responsibilities of this position to the best of my abilities.”.The committee voted to question Parliamentary Protective Service and protocol officers, the House of Commons sergeant at arms, Prime Minister’s Office and Privy Council staff and the Ukrainian Canadian and Canadian Polish Congress executives. Cooper said on October 17 the motion would compel disclosure of all emails, memos and other documents transmitted between the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons and House of Commons administration. Hunka was presented to the House of Commons in September as a national hero. “We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98,” said Rota. “His name is Yaroslav Hunka.”He said he was proud to say he was from North Bay, ON, and his riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming, ON. He called him “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service.”“Thank you,” he said.
