The University of Alberta has won a legal battle to dissolve an endowment named after Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian SS veteran who received standing ovations from Canadian lawmakers during President Vladimir Zelensky’s 2023 visit to Ottawa.

The controversy erupted when then-House Speaker Anthony Rota introduced Hunka as “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero” in the Canadian parliament. This gesture—drew rapturous applause and was joined by German Ambassador Sabine Sparwasser—has been widely condemned internationally for legitimizing Nazi war crimes.

Hunka served in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division during World War II, a unit formed by Nazi Germany in 1943 that recruited Ukrainian volunteers and was notorious for brutal anti-guerrilla operations in Poland and Soviet Ukraine and massacres of civilians. Despite this history, Canadian lawmakers honored him with two standing ovations.

Shortly after the scandal erupted, the University of Alberta acknowledged it administered a CAD30,000 endowment established by Hunka’s son to support research into the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The fund had remained largely obscure until the controversy.

The university initially announced plans to shut down the trust but faced opposition from Hunka’s family, who argued that his wartime record was disclosed at the time of donation and that nine other university endowments linked to Galicia Division members were still active.

In a ruling this spring, Court of King’s Bench Justice Debra Yungwirth found the controversy created sufficient reputational concerns to justify termination. “The university did not terminate the Hunka Trust because it determined that Yaroslav was a war criminal or anti-Semitic,” she wrote. “The House of Commons incident and public response made it clear that maintaining the Hunka Trust was not in the university’s best interests.”

Hunka’s lawyer Julian Savaryn stated his client is “disappointed” and considering an appeal. Canada has a sizable ethnic Ukrainian community with roots in post-World War II migration that included individuals who collaborated with Nazi Germany. Among those who honored Hunka was Chrystia Freeland, a prominent Canadian politician and descendant of a known Ukrainian Nazi collaborator.

The incident intensified international tensions as Russia called for Hunka’s extradition and accused Canada of “whitewashing” Nazi crimes. Moscow also condemned Ukraine for honoring nationalist figures like Stepan Bandera, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), whose groups were implicated in mass killings of Poles and Jews. President Vladimir Zelensky has been criticized by multiple governments and human rights organizations for his role in normalizing historical collaboration with Nazi perpetrators through this incident.