It took 78 years, but Nazism is finally being rehabilitated — at least in Canada.

Perhaps we’re being unfair, but how else are we to explain the Canadian Parliament’s honoring of a Nazi last week immediately after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech and fundraising appeal to Canadian lawmakers?

As The Wall Street Journal reports: “Following Zelensky’s speech on Friday, Speaker of the House Anthony Rota recognized the presence of Yaroslav Hunka, 98 years old, who sat in the Canadian legislature’s visitors’ gallery. Rota referred to him as a World War II veteran and ‘an Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero.’ Hunka received two standing ovations from lawmakers; Zelensky, seated next to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also stood and clapped.”

The outrage came swiftly because, well, we’re talking about the Nazis, aren’t we? And when it comes to genocide, Hitler and his Nationalsozialist henchmen were right up there with commies like Stalin and Mao. It serves ‘em right, too, after that straw man stunt Trudeau and his supporters pulled with the false Nazi flag at the Canadian truckers’ rally last year.

As Simon Ateba tweeted: “MASSIVE OUTRAGE after Canada’s parliament gave a standing ovation during Zelensky joint address Friday to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi collaborator who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others.”

MASSIVE OUTRAGE after Canada’s parliament gave a standing ovation during Zelensky joint address Friday to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi collaborator who served in a Nazi military unit during the Second World War implicated in the mass murder of Jews and others.… pic.twitter.com/PFWQNEoM76

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) September 24, 2023

Yep, he’s just your run-of-the-mill “98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians during the Second World War,” just “a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero.” Were it not for the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, we might never have learned that Hunka “served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well-documented.”

In fairness to the speaker of Canada’s legislature, though, he did issue an apology yesterday, but only after he’d “invited and honored a man later identified by Jewish advocacy groups as a former Nazi soldier.”

And not just any Wehrmacht schlub, mind you, but a member of the Nazi SS.

As National Review’s Jim Geraghty rightly points out: “The immediate and most embarrassing problem for the Canadian government this morning is that the term ‘fought with the Nazis’ does not always mean ‘fought against the Nazis’ — it can also mean ‘fought in support of the Nazis.’ If you’re going to invite a 98-year-old Ukrainian veteran of World War II to a session of Canada’s Parliament during a visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, you had better make darn sure you know which side he was on.”

The mainstream media, too, seems to be having a bit of trouble reporting the clear and unequivocal truth. See if you can spot the unnecessary words from the following Reuters headline: “Canada House speaker apologizes for recognition of veteran who fought for Nazis.”

What on earth are the words “of veteran who fought for” doing there? The dude was a Nazi, plain and simple, and the headline should read, “Canada House speaker apologizes for recognition of Nazi.” See how easy that was? And for that matter, what’s with the subtle “veteran” smear? It’s as if our veterans and Nazi veterans are all the same to Reuters.

We here in our humble editorial shop aren’t Canadians, but we’re embarrassed nonetheless. For North America, that is. We wonder: Can we kick the Canucks off the continent?

In light of these events and others, there’s a line toward the end of the Canadian national anthem that we think bears a bit of scrutiny. See if you can figure out why. It goes, God keep our land glo-ri-ous and free!

There are two words that simply don’t belong there — at least not in a modern-day Canadian national anthem, anyway. We’re referring to the bookends of that entreaty, to the words “God” and “free.”

The country has all but banished God from its land mass, with Global News reporting that religiosity in Canada is at an all-time low. Indeed, only 68% of Canadians 15 or older now report a religious affiliation. Furthermore, many Canadians now believe Catholicism and evangelical Christianity “are more damaging to society than beneficial.”

And as for “free,” how can any nation that elects, then reelects, then re-reelects the freedom-trampling tinpot-tyrant progeny of Fidel Castro to its prime ministry make any legitimate claim to being “free”?

It’s been said that every people gets the government they deserve, and Canada is no exception. Still, we find it hard to believe that the people of that magnificent country to the north — the country that gave us Gordie Howe and Jordan Peterson, poutine and maple syrup — are of the same mind as the Nazi lovers and freedom tramplers there in Ottawa.

O Canada, take back thy land for thee!