Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was photographed holding a scarf bearing colours associated with a far\u002Dright Ukrainian paramilitary group from the…
Both her office and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress suggest the questions and criticism she has received about it online is linked to a pattern of Russian-backed disinformation targeting members of the Ukrainian community.
Ivan Katchanovski, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa, said the red-and-black flag, along with the “Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes” slogan, was adopted by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during its congress in Nazi-occupied Poland in April 1941. The UPA was the armed wing of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , an ultranationalist, antisemitic and fascist organization.
“Can you see the hypocrisy and double standard now?” People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier tweeted the next day, adding that he does not believe Freeland is an “actual Nazi.” A statement from Tory’s office said the mayor attended the rally to show both his and Toronto’s support for Ukraine and its people. “We are not aware of this particular scarf or its meaning. The mayor is always focused on bringing our city together during difficult times and in no way wants to do anything that divides our residents as we work to support the Ukrainian community.”
There have also been attempts in modern Ukraine “to recast the OUN and the UPA as popular national liberation movement, which fought against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and to present OUN and UPA leaders as national heroes,” said Katchanovski. Katchanovski said scholarly studies and archival documents show the OUN collaborated with Nazi Germany in the beginning, and at the end, of the Second World War. The Bandera faction of the OUN, which controlled the UPA, led a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia in 1943.
Marvin Rotrand, national director of the League for Human Rights at B’nai Brith Canada, condemned the use of the black-and-red flags spotted at pro-Ukraine events.
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