Canada : Removal of a monument to soldiers of the Ukrainian Nazi “Galitsia” division

A video circulated on social media of the removal of a memorial to the Ukrainian "Galicia" division of the Nazi SS forces during World War II, from a cemetery in the Canadian city of Oakville.

Activists and journalists repeatedly called for the removal of this monument, which was erected in the Ukrainian cemetery in the city in 1988, and after it was attacked in June 2020 when the phrase “Monument to Nazi Warriors” was written on it, about 850 people signed a petition calling for its removal.

Earlier, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said that he was "disgusted" by the presence of such a monument in his city, but local laws do not allow it to be removed.

The issue of removing the monument returned to the forefront again after the scandal honoring Galicia veteran Jaroslav Hunka  in the Canadian Parliament in September 2023.

In those days, the Toronto Star newspaper described the memorial in Oakville as “a disgrace and a slap in the face of Canadian Jews” and “spit on the grave of every Canadian veteran,” before the cemetery administration decided at the end of last year to remove the controversial monument.