Canada, Are You Feeling Okay?
The immediate and most embarrassing problem for the Canadian government this morning is that the term “fought with the Nazis” does not always mean “fought against the Nazis” — it can also mean “fought in support of the Nazis.” If you’re going to invite a 98-year-old Ukrainian veteran of World War II to a session of Canada’s Parliament during a visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, you had better make darn sure you know which side he was on.
Alas, Canadian speaker of the House Anthony Rota did not do that, and managed to lead the Canadian House of Commons Friday in a standing ovation for a man who fought in the volunteer First Ukrainian Division, which “was also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS — referred to as the SS Galichina — and considered part of the Germany’s Nazi war machine”:
“We have here in chamber, today, a Ukrainian Canadian 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.”
Everybody in the commons rose to their feet in applause as Rota spoke.
“His name is Jaroslav Hunka, I am very proud to say he is from North Bay and my riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming. He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero and we thank him for all his service.”
As those of you who have cracked a history book know, as messy, bloody, and complicated as the history of southeastern Europe is, the side that was fighting against Russia in World War II was . . . the Nazis. (Let’s pause to point out that the Soviets committed their share of war crimes and mass murder of imprisoned civilians and political prisoners in Ukraine, too. This is not a pro-Nazi statement, just an observation of the historical fact that the Eastern Front didn’t have many combatants we would consider to be good guys.) The history of the First Ukrainian Division/Galacia Division during World War II is dark, bloody, and grim, with plenty of executions of civilians and praise from Heinrich Himmler. The only silver lining is that in the 1980s, the Canadian government established a Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes, and concluded:
Charges of war crimes of Galicia Division have never been substantiated, either in 1950 when they were first preferred, or in 1984 when they were renewed, or before this Commission. . . . In the absence of evidence of participation or knowledge of specific war crimes, mere membership in the Galicia Division is insufficient to justify prosecution.
The Ukrainian delegation and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office, upon learning of the facts about Hunka, apologized and insisted the invitation wasn’t cleared with them. But as our Dominic Pino observes, for an error like this to occur, it requires some spectacular historical ignorance on the part of more than one individual:
Political operations like this don’t get planned by one person. How many people in Rota’s office — and the prime minister’s office, which would have likely been involved in planning this event — missed that someone fighting against the Russians in Eastern Europe during World War II might have some connection to the Nazis? Or at the very least, remember that at that point Canada was allied with the Russians against the Nazis?
It’s not as though World War II is a minor event in Canadian history. Over a million Canadians served in the war, and Canadian forces successfully led the assault on one of the five beaches on D-Day. That ought to be a source of national pride and be firmly secure in national memory.
For what it’s worth, Rota says no one else in the Canadian government knew he was going to salute Hunka.
As if the embarrassment wasn’t bad enough, Canada just handed Russia more easy fodder for propaganda that the Ukrainians are the real Nazis, and that the dictator who’s breaking treaties, hinting at global conspiracies involving Jews, and constantly bombing civilians — the dictator who has kidnapped at least 19,000 children — is the real hero of this war.
This morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous. Many Western countries, including Canada, have raised a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War. And they know nothing about the threat of fascism.” The Kremlin is a pack of damnable liars, but that’s a fair criticism of Canada.
The second biggest problem for Canada this morning is that it is now in something of a Cold War with India, because apparently the Indian government used its intelligence services to execute a Sikh activist in Vancouver.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in the parking lot of a Sikh temple on June 18. He was an activist in the movement of Sikh separatists who want to create an independent ethno-religious state in the northern Punjab region of India.
To hear the Indian government tell it, Nijjar was a terrorist, the leader of a group called the Khalistan Tiger Force. The government issued an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest in 2014 and offered a reward of roughly $12,000 for information about him.
The Canadian government was and is skeptical of the Indian government’s claims, and treated Nijjar like just another dissident — although it’s possible there’s more to the story. Nijjar’s son claimed that his father was regularly meeting with Canadian intelligence officials:
Balraj Singh Nijjar, 21, said his father had been meeting with Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers “once or twice a week,” including one or two days before the June 18 murder, with another meeting scheduled for two days after his death.
The meetings had started in February and had increased in frequency in the following three or four months, he said in an interview on Tuesday.
He said he also attended a meeting between his father and the RCMP last year in which they were told about threats to Nijjar’s life.
His father was advised to “stay at home,” he said.
As of August 15, at least publicly, Prime Minister Trudeau’s stance was that all was well between the Canadian and Indian governments. He issued a statement on Indian Independence Day reaffirming that, “as the world’s largest democracy, India is — and will continue to be — a key partner for Canada in the promotion of our shared values of democracy, pluralism, and progress. We are committed to building on this rich history of collaboration, including under India’s presidency of the G20 this year.”
But during the G-20 Summit in New Delhi in early September, the statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted that Trudeau had raised the issue of Nijjar murder:
Prime Minister [Modi] highlighted that India-Canada relations are anchored in shared democratic values, respect for rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. He conveyed our strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada. They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship. The nexus of such forces with organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well. It is essential for the two countries to cooperate in dealing with such threats.
Then, a week ago, Trudeau addressed the Canadian House of Commons and dropped a bombshell: “Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar.”
“Canada has declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government. Last week, at the G20, I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms. Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he continued.
If the Indian government’s version of events is right, then the Canadian government was, presumably out of naivete or denial, protecting and regularly meeting with a terrorist attacking India. If the Canadian government’s version of events is right, then the Indian government is just straight up assassinating its critics, legal citizens of foreign countries, on foreign soil, where they’re supposed to be protected by the other country’s citizenship and sovereignty.
What the Indian government is alleged to have done is uncomfortably similar to the Saudi government’s execution and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist and U.S. green-card holder Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Abusing activists, dissidents, and political prisoners on your own soil is bad enough. But running operations to kill them in somebody else’s country is meant to send a message that dissidents aren’t safe anywhere.
And this is an American news story and diplomatic headache as well. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that after Nijjar was assassinated, the U.S. intelligence community provided the Canadians with additional information pointing to the Indian government’s role.
As the Times put it:
A spokesman for the White House declined to comment. U.S. officials were reluctant to discuss the killing because although Washington wants to assist Canada, a close ally, it does not want to alienate India, a partner with which it is hoping to expand ties as a counterbalance to China’s rising influence in Asia.
As the Journal put it:
U.S. officials are reluctant to talk about the alleged assassination plot at the same time the Biden administration is eager to forge closer ties with India to counter China, though President Biden’s national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said last week the accusation was a “matter of concern.”
Note that President Biden hosted Modi at the White House a few days after the killing and Biden gushed about Modi’s commitment to democracy and universal human rights:
Mr. Prime Minister, we’ve met many times over the past few years, most recently in Hiroshima at the G7 Summit. And each time, I was struck by our ability to find new areas of cooperation.
Together, we’re unlocking a shared future of what I believe to be unlimited potential.
And with this visit, we’re demonstrating once more how India and the United States are collaborating on nearly every human endeavor and delivering progress across the board. . . .
Let me be — close with this: Indians and Americans are both peoples who innovate and create, turn obstacles into opportunities, who find strength in community and family, and who cherish freedom and celebrate the democratic values of universal human rights, which face challenges around the world and each — and in each of our countries but which remain so vital to the success of each of our nations: press freedom, religious freedom, tolerance, diversity.
I mean . . . do Modi and his government “cherish freedom and celebrate the democratic values of universal human rights”? That claim looks kind of sketchy this morning.
Diplomacy and foreign policy require us to prioritize what issues matter to us the most. Perhaps keeping India aligned with the U.S. against China is our most important priority. But turning a blind eye to Indian government agents’ just straight up murdering critics on the soil of an ally is a tough pill to swallow.
ADDENDUM: The Hollywood writers’ strike appears to be over. As discussed Friday, the pressure of next year’s film- and television-production schedule being at risk probably forced everyone to be more reasonable and find some acceptable compromise.
