Rota stepped down, saying he was “deeply sorry for his mistake” and the pain it has caused Jewish communities in Canada and elsewhere.
Trudeau’s government is under intense pressure over the case, which Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has described as “the biggest diplomatic embarrassment” in Canadian history.
At the high-profile event for Zelensky, Rota honored Yaroslav Hanka as “a Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran of the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians” and “a Ukrainian hero and a “Canadian Hero.”
According to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, Hunka served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, “a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well documented.”
The Jewish advocacy group described the incident as “shocking” and “incredibly disturbing.” Russia immediately jumped on the issue, saying Canada would now have to “bring the 98-year-old to justice.”
