• Albbi@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      They thought they were applauding a Ukrainian WW2 war veteran. He was that, but fought for the Nazis. They didn’t know that. Many apologies were given out (as is tradition) and the person who invited the Nazi resigned.

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        Their competence and knowledge being shit is not the gotcha you think it is. Also at least some of them including PM met with Hunka before.

        • Albbi@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          It seems like there are two things that could account for the situation.

          One is that the government knowingly invited a Nazi to be celebrated in front of the Jewish president of Ukraine to mock and embarrass him.

          The other is that Hunka never told people he was a Nazi and just said he fought for Ukraine. He seems to have been active in the community and even had an endowment fund set up at the University of Alberta, so maybe he was riding a wave of assumptions for a while.

          I guess we could look at how Canada has acted toward Ukraine. That should tell us which of these is more likely.

          Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Canada has committed nearly $22 billion in multi-faceted assistance for Ukraine, including over $12.4 billion in direct financial support – the largest per capita financial contribution among G7 countries. source

          • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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            3 months ago

            Both are absurd nonsenses. First completely ignore that Ukraine does in fact celebrate SS Galizien division which Hunka was member. Second means Canadian Parliament and all its memebers have zero knowledge gathering ability, and as such is at best completely useless intitution.

            They knowingly invited known nazi to celebrate him, read something that Canadian-Ukrainian professor Ivan Katchanovski wrote on the topic of neonazism in Ukraine and Canada and their ties.

          • AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml
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            3 months ago

            I’m puzzled at your assumption that the Jewish president of Ukraine would be uncomfortable around open nazis

      • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        Lol. The idea that they hadn’t thought to do even the most cursary verification of the guy they were bringing in to give a standing ovation to because he “fought Russia in World War 2” is so absurd that I can’t believe anyone takes it seriously. They knew who he was.