The University of Alberta will return an endowment to the family of Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian veteran who fought in a Nazi unit who was honoured in the Canadian House of Commons during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada last week.
Hunka, 98, was honoured in the House of Commons by former House Speaker Anthony Rota before it was later revealed he had fought in a Ukrainian unit set up by Nazi Germany to fight the Soviet Union.
After Parliament’s recognition of the man — a move some have called the most embarrassing international debacle in Canadian history – the university began a review of a $30,000 endowment fund to the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) in Hunka’s name, according to Verna Yui, interim provost and vice-president academic at the Edmonton university.
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“After careful consideration of the complexities, experiences and circumstances of those impacted by the situation, we have made the decision to close the endowment and return the funds to the donor,” Yiu said.
“The university recognizes and regrets the unintended harm caused.”
Yiu said the university is committed to addressing antisemitism in every way, “including the ways in which the Holocaust continues to resonate in the present.”
“As part of this commitment, the university is in the process of reviewing its general naming policies and procedures, including those for endowments, to ensure alignment with our values,” she said.
The webpage describing the fund has since been taken down, but an archived version from earlier this year said the Yaroslav and Margaret Hunka Ukrainian Research Endowment Fund was to “support research related to the Ukrainian Catholic Church, with preference given to investigations of the lives and work of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky and Metropolitan (Cardinal) Josyf Slipyj and the history of the underground church.”
In a statement, the Jewish Federation of Edmonton said it was encouraged by the university’s commitment to address antisemitism and review naming policies and procedures.
“We would like to thank the University of Alberta for its unequivocal and swift action to dispose of an endowment in Hunka’s name at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies,” the statement said.
Laurie Adkin, a political ecology professor at the university, said the CIUS should explain how it came to accept an endowment in Hunka’s name.
“Surely the CIUS does some kind of minimal background investigation of proposed honorees,” Adkin said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Who is responsible for the establishment of the Hunka endowment fund?”
— with files from Karen Bartko, Global News
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