A project designed to honor victims of communist regimes in Canada had its scope changed after it was discovered that most of the names planned for the monument were linked to Nazism. In light of the revelation, the Canadian government decided to remove any individual reference to the work installed in Ottawa.
Opened in December 2024, the Monument to the Victims of Communism was designed to display around 600 names of people killed under communist governments. However, a year after opening, the Department of Canadian Heritage determined that no personal identification will be included at the site.
The change occurred after investigations conducted by historians and Jewish entities showed that, of the 533 names initially listed, at least 330 belonged to individuals aligned with the Nazi regime or involved in war crimes during the Second World War.
The project had been approved by the government in 2009 and commissioned by the Liberty Foundation, a non-profit organization formed by immigrants and descendants from Eastern Europe — regions that were part of the Soviet Union or countries in the so-called Iron Curtain. Part of the funding was public, and the rest was supposed to come from private donations.
In return, donors would have the right to nominate the names of victims of communist regimes to be engraved on the monument.
During the execution of the work, complaints raised by the Canadian press began to question the presence of Nazis and collaborators of the Third Reich among those honored. From then on, Jewish Holocaust memory groups, such as Friends of Simon Wiesenthal, began a detailed investigation.
Among the names identified was that of Ante Pavelić, a Croatian fascist leader responsible for the persecution and murder of Jews and other minorities at the head of the Ustaše militia, one of the most violent in the Balkans. Another case cited was that of Roman Shukhevych, a Ukrainian ultranationalist associated with the massacre of Poles during the war, with estimates of up to 100,000 victims under his command.
In light of the discoveries, the Canadian Heritage Department began requiring that each name be approved in advance before any public exhibition, with the participation of experts and representatives of the Jewish community.
In December 2025, after the formal identification of 330 Nazis or collaborators, the authorities chose to definitively veto any nominal tribute at the monument.
Previous controversy postponed opening
The controversy surrounding the memorial is also related to a diplomatic episode that occurred before its inauguration. Initially scheduled for November 2023, the ceremony was postponed after it was revealed that a former Nazi fighter had been honored in the Canadian Parliament months earlier.
During a session attended by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant who served in the Galician Division of the Waffen-SS, a unit that swore loyalty to Adolf Hitler and acted under the command of Heinrich Himmler, was applauded.
Without knowledge of Hunka’s military background, then-Speaker of Parliament Anthony Rota declared him “a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero.” The episode generated a strong international reaction, led to Rota’s resignation and resulted in a formal apology from the Canadian government to Zelensky.
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/12/15/apos-denuncia-de-homenagens-a-nazistas-ottawa-abandona-tributo-nominal-a-vitimas-do-comunismo/
