Canada names descendant of Nazi collaborator as special Ukraine envoy — ApsnyNews World News

Chrystia Freeland has resigned as Canada’s minister of transport to become her country’s special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine, according to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Freeland, the granddaughter of a Nazi collaborator who has denied awareness of his past, has long faced scrutiny over her grandfather's role editing propaganda.  

In a statement on Tuesday, Carney said that Freeland, one of the most prominent figures in Canadian politics for over a decade, who has already served as international trade minister, foreign minister, and finance minister, has been offered the newly-created job, but will remain a member of parliament.

”Chrystia is truly uniquely positioned for this timely and essential work towards a better future for Ukrainians and peace in Europe,” he said, citing her “deep relationships and understanding of Ukraine and its economy.”

Carney did not provide any details of what Freeland’s position would entail.

In a separate statement, Freeland did not comment on her new role, but confirmed that she was leaving the cabinet and is not planning to run in the next election.

Commenting on the announcement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova branded Freeland a “hardcore Russophobe,” adding that her appointment would only exacerbate the crisis in Ukraine.

Her family’s troubled legacy is well-documented. Her maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak, edited the Krakivski Visti newspaper in Nazi-occupied Poland and Austria during WWII before he emigrated to Canada.

The media outlet, according to the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum, was controlled by the Nazis and published propaganda and anti-Semitic material, promoting the German-approved SS “1st Galician Division,” composed mostly of ethnic Ukrainians and linked to the massacre of over 100,000 Poles.

For years, Freeland rejected any claims that Chomiak had collaborated with the Nazis as “Russian disinformation,” although Canadian media, including The Globe and Mail, have reported she had known for decades about her grandfather’s work.

During her tenure, Freeland also applauded a known Nazi in the Canadian parliament, later denying knowledge that the man could have had the same background as her grandfather.

She also clashed with US President Donald Trump, who has called her a “terrible person” and a “nasty woman.” When Freeland resigned from the cabinet of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in December, Trump celebrated the news, saying, “She will not be missed!!!!”

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