The House Affairs committee decided on Thursday not to continue discussing publicly how a former member of the Waffen SS was welcomed as a hero in the House of Commons.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, one of the MPs pushing for public hearings called it a “cover-up.”“What we have is the cover-up coalition at work yet again seeking to go behind closed doors rather than to 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).“Okay, okay, okay,” interjected Liberal MP Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, ON), chair of the committee. “I think you can hear me, Mr. Cooper.”Cooper sponsored a motion requesting that the House Affairs committee look into the incident that occurred on September 22.The majority of MPs voted to talk about the matter in a private session and the meeting ended without any further comments.“The only reason it has been necessary to bring this motion at this time is because of every effort made by Liberals and New Democrats to have an in-camera meeting to deal with the issue of the former SS soldier introduced before the House of Commons,” said Cooper.Yaroslav Hunka, 98, of North Bay, ON, was presented to the Commons as a national hero by his MP, then-Speaker Anthony Rota. “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,” said Rota. “He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you.”Rota resigned on September 26 because he faced the possibility of censure after he admitted that he did not know Hunka had fought with the Germans during World War II. MPs had doubts about Rota's explanation.“Someone who fought against Russia during the Second World War, that should not have passed the basic smell test,” Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, AB) earlier told the Commons.Hunka volunteered with the 14 Waffen SS Grenadier Division. In a 2011 commentary in the Ukrainian-language Combatant News, he stated that he was held as a prisoner of war in 1945 but later had “a profitable and affluent life in Canada.”Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the incident was embarrassing, but he explained that Speaker Rota was solely responsible for it.“The Speaker was solely responsible for the invitation and recognition of this man and has wholly accepted that responsibility and stepped down,” said Trudeau. “This was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada.”
