Media reports Canadian law enforcement treating Nazi monument as war memorial
Date
12/1/2024 7:29:11 AM
(MENAFN) Police and prosecutors in Alberta, Canada, have classified a monument dedicated to Ukrainian veterans who fought for Nazi Germany as a protected "war memorial" in connection with charges against journalist Duncan Kinney. Kinney was accused of vandalizing the monument at St. Michael’s Cemetery in Edmonton in August 2021, by spray-painting it with the words “Nazi Monument 14th Waffen SS.” The monument honors members of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a unit composed mainly of Western Ukrainians, many of whom immigrated to Canada after WWII. This division was implicated in war crimes.
In October 2022, Kinney was also charged with “mischief relating to war memorials” for allegedly defacing a statue of Roman Shukhevych, a Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator, in Edmonton. Shukhevych was involved in the mass murder of Poles and Jews during the war. Kinney denies the charges and is contesting them in court, claiming he is being targeted for exposing police misconduct.
Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Alberta cabinet minister, criticized the authorities for misinterpreting the law by extending protection to war criminals and their monuments. The monument to the Ukrainian SS veterans has family connections to Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose grandfather, Michael Chomiak, was a Nazi propagandist in occupied Poland and helped fund the monument.
The case follows controversy over the Canadian parliament's recognition of Yaroslav Hunka, a 99-year-old member of the 1st Galician Division, who was given two standing ovations in 2023 during a visit by Ukrainian President Zelensky. This sparked a scandal, with Russia accusing Canada of downplaying Nazi crimes.
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