The Hunka affair has embarrassed Canada how bad is it, historically speaking?

In the days since parliamentarians unwittingly applauded a Ukrainian veteran who fought in a Nazi unit, political parties and observers have found one thing to agree on Canada has embarrassed itself.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievrehas calledit the "biggest single diplomatic embarrassment in Canadian history."

Politicians across party lines have condemned the impactthe incident has had on many peoplein Canada and around the world, including Jews and Poles.

But how does the Yaroslav Hunka incident's effects on Canada's reputationcompare to the fallout from previous diplomatic pratfalls?

Historiansand foreign policy experts say Canada hasenduredits share ofhumiliatingmomentson the world stage. Many of those moments, they add, have had serious real-world consequences for people and policy.

The House18:18Disgust, disgrace and a diplomatic dilemma

The fallout from former speaker Anthony Rotas decision to recognize a veteran in the House of Commons who fought in a Nazi unit in World War II dominated debate in Parliament this week. The Conservatives have called it the biggest diplomatic embarrassment in Canadian history. The House speaks to historian Robert Bothwell and foreign affairs experts Janice Stein and Marcus Kolga about the hit to Canadas reputation; plus, journalists Paul Wells and Susan Delacourt weigh in on how Parliament is managing the mistake.

"I haven't seen anything quite like [the Hunka incident] but I've certainly seen equally embarrassing incidents happen," Janice Stein, founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs, said inan interview with CBC's The House.

"There are a number of incidents. Some just count as boo-boos and some ...are perhaps more serious in terms of policy," said historian Robert Bothwell.

Stein, who has observed Canadian politics for decades, said one incident that comes to mind isthe 1997 controversy involvingtwo Israeli spies who following a failed assassination attempt were caughtwith fake Canadian passports.

WATCH | Yaroslav Hunka, family in hiding in wake of politicalfirestorm:

Yaroslav Hunka and family hiding from political backlash, friend says

1 year ago

Duration 2:34

The family of Yaroslav Hunka is in hiding in the wake of a political firestorm tied to his service with a Nazi unit in the Second World War, according to a family friend. That same friend says the family didn't know Parliament would honour Hunka the way it did.

"It was embarrassing because it was a fraudulent Canadian passport and what came out was that there was a black market in Canadian passports and we had not secured our passports adequately," Stein said.

Bothwell pointed to another miscalculationthat scuttleda major Canadian diplomatic initiative with global significance. In 1935,a Canadian proposal to place oil sanctions on fascist Italy collapsedbecause the Canadian diplomat who proposed itfailed to get the federal governmentto buy in.Mackenzie King's governmentsoon disavowed it.

The sanctions regime eventually disintegrated,Bothwell said.

"This is one where dysfunction on the Canadian side, contradiction on the Canadian side, made Canada an international ...not laughingstock, because it was too serious for that ... but it certainly didn't contribute to our standing or prestige in the international arena," he said.

"It shows that Canadians should get their ducks in a row. They should actually know what they're sayingand they should actually have a sense of what the consequences might be."

Bothwell also citedthe example of French President Charles de Gaulle's1967 speech in Montreal. The statesman'suse of the phrase "Vive le Qubec libre" was seen an endorsement of Quebec'sseparatist movement and it sparkeda major diplomatic incident. While de Gaulle was not a Canadian, the event had profoundconsequences for politics in this country.

In a separate interview withThe House, journalist Paul Wells pointed tothe case of Igor Gouzenko, who bounced around Ottawa for days whileattempting to defect from the Soviet Unionand bring with him secrets revealing a communist spy ring in Canada.

The embarrassment, Wells said, came from the federal government's decision to shrug off Gouzenko's claimsbefore it finally came to realize the significance of the event often cited by historians as the beginning of the Cold War.

WATCH | Breaking down what happened withYaroslav Hunka's parliament invite:

A former Speakers take on the Parliament Hill Nazi controversy

1 year ago

Duration 3:28

Former Speaker Geoff Regan calls Anthony Rotas decision to invite a former soldier who served in a Nazi unit to the House of Commons a serious error and offers his insights about how the vetting process works.

Big victory for Russian propaganda, disinfo expert says

Stein argued that while the Hunka affair isclearly humiliating forCanada andforPrime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally it might not be the worst diplomatic gaffein Canadian history.

"This certainly should not have happened. It was deeply embarrassing. But does it rank among the all-time hits on the Canadian hit parade? I don't think so," she said.

Stein and Bothwell both argue that embarrassing diplomatic incidents canalso have concrete consequences. Marcus Kolga, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-LaurierInstitute, said the world is seeing one of those consequences now in the form of Russian propaganda.

"I don't think I've ever witnessed anything quite like what we saw on Friday and what we've seen over thepast number of days," Kolga told The House. Heflagged one instance of disinformation: a post from the Russian embassy complaining about the use of Hunka's image on a Ukrainian stamp but no such stamp exists.

"I've never seen the sort of frenzy that Russian propagandists have gone into over the past number of days, exploiting this situation, to try and intensify the already damaging effects that it's having, has had, on our reputation abroad,but also thedivisions that this could potentially cause within our own society."

Stein, Bothwell and Kolga all agreed that given Anthony Rota's resignation as Speaker andTrudeau's apology on behalf of Parliament, fenceslikely will be mended with Canadian allies and consequences on the diplomatic front willeventually fade.

But Kolga warned there could still be long-lasting effects beyond Canada's reputation.

"It is embarrassing for the Canadian government, but I think this is something that will go away relatively quickly when it comes to the international media. But when it comes to Russian media and Russian state propagandists, they are going to continue using this,"he said.

"They will use it for the coming weeks, months and maybe years."

WATCH | The fallout from the Speaker's Nazi controversy:

At Issue | Is Trudeaus apology enough to fix the Nazi controversy damage?

1 year ago

Duration 24:02

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized on behalf of Canada for the House Speakers decision to invite a Ukrainian man who fought for Nazi Germany to Parliament. Is it enough to fix the political damage, and how has it impacted Canadas international reputation?