Ottawa has given $2.2 million over the last seven years to Ukrainian-Canadian groups that celebrate Nazi collaborators, Jewish-American news outlet The Forward reported on Wednesday.
Among the recipients of government grants are defenders of 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka, whose presence at a special session of the Canadian parliament last month caused a major scandal, according to the outlet.
The largest recipient of government financial support is the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which is known for praising Hunka’s Nazi WWII division (SS Galicia) and protecting a monument to it in suburban Toronto, the Forward article claims. The organization is listed as having received nearly $1.5 million between 2016 and 2022, according to public records.
The Canadian government also supports the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada, whose logo includes the insignia of a faction of the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Between 2015 and 2022, it received $140,000 in grants, mostly to create summer jobs for youth, the outlet reported, stressing that the federation’s leader made statements exonerating Hunka last month.
The New Pathway newspaper, which fought for the monument to Ukrainian ultranationalist and Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevich in Canada, received about $68,000 from a fund that supports local publishers, The Forward reported. Other Canadian government-funded organizations listed in the publication have also supported veterans of the Ukrainian Nazi unit or otherwise praised collaborators.
In late September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized for applauding a Ukrainian Waffen SS veteran during a parliamentary ceremony attended by the president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky.
A few days later, Canadian Governor General Mary Simon reportedly expressed regret that in 1987, her office awarded the country’s second-highest merit to a Ukrainian immigrant who served in the 14th Waffen-SS Division.