To the editor:
This week, many organizations are trying to distance themselves from the Hunka family after the Nazi soldier was famously honoured by the Canadian Parliament. After it was discovered that the University of Alberta had accepted a $30,000 donation and named an endowment fund in the name of Yaroslav and Margaret Hunka, the university announced that they would be returning the funds.
Martin Hunka, the son of Yaroslav Hunka who was prominently in photos accompanying Yaroslav at Parliament last week is/was the Chair of the North Bay Hospital Foundation.
Similarly to the University of Alberta, the Hospital Foundation has also accepted donations from the Hunka family. However, as opposed to the University of Alberta, the North Bay Hospital seems to be simply trying to erase its past affiliation. As of this week, they have removed all mention of Martin from their website and social media pages and have removed him from the list of board trustees. As of yesterday, they now list the Vice-Chair as also holding the Chair position.
The hospital has not made any statements regarding his departure even after I have sent multiple emails to the board and office.
The organization’s 2022-2023 annual report has also mysteriously disappeared from the web. In fact, every annual report and most financial statements have been wiped from their website. All links on social media from the past few years sharing the annual reports direct browsers to broken links. Using a website archiving service (WayBackMachine), I was able to retrieve the 2022-2023 annual report. The report published just a few months ago prominently features Hunka as the chair on the opening page.
The 20 page annual report also features Martin and Theresa Hunka as having donated between $1,000 and $4,999 in the last year. The family also made a $2,000 donation in honour of Margaret Hunka. However, the Hospital Foundation has erased this document from its website and social media pages.
It is clear that the Hunka family has close ties to this foundation. In prior annual reports which the organization appears to have made an effort to conceal this week, the Hunka family may be featured more prominently. There may be much larger donations and homages made to this WW2 Nazi veteran. I don’t think the Hospital Foundation should regret having received generous donations if they were not aware of the individual's past. However, I don’t think they should erase history either.
The Hospital Foundation lists integrity, inclusivity, gratitude, respect and accountability as its values. By erasing prior annual reports and financial statements, this multi-million dollar organization is not being accountable to the public.
The facts are: Martin Hunka was a prominent member of this board for many years and the Hunka family has been closely related to the hospital. The hospital should stop hiding all prior annual reports. If inappropriate homages were made, then they could apologize and move on without attempting to erase what has already happened.
Rejean Venne
Sturgeon Falls
