The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons on Sunday apologised for praising an individual at a parliamentary meeting who served in a Nazi unit during World War II.

Speaker Anthony Rota in a statement took responsibility for what was characterized as an oversight, calling the initiative “entirely my own.” “I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision,” he said, adding his “deepest apologies” to Jewish communities.

Two days earlier, Speaker Anthony Rota had recognized 98-year old Yaroslav Hunka as a “Ukrainian hero” before the Canadian Parliament during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit.

Hunka served in World War II as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, according to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group that demanded an apology.

“At a time of rising antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, it is incredibly disturbing to see Canada’s Parliament rise to applaud an individual who was a member of a unit in the Waffen-SS, a Nazi military branch responsible for the murder of Jews and others,” the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement while demanding an apology earlier Sunday.