A First Nations ceremony held in downtown Halifax on Canada Day to honour missing and murdered indigenous women was interrupted by men who identified themselves as part of an alt-right organization -- and included two members of the Royal Canadian Navy.
During the ceremony, Chief Grizzly Mamma cut off her braids and placed them at the foot of a statue of Edward Cornwallis -- a gesture meant to symbolize the scalping and mistreatment of Mi'kmaq people that occurred under the Halifax founder鈥檚 command. That鈥檚 when a group of five men are said to have showed up to disrupt the event.
鈥淚t was so frustrating,鈥� Halifax poet laureate Rebecca Thomas, a Mi'kmaq woman and activist, told CTV Atlantic on Monday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to help, heal, and mourn. And here you have a group of young white men interrupting a group of indigenous women who are trying to do a ceremony. It just felt like once again we are made to feel (like) less.鈥�
Some in attendance said the men identified themselves as members of the 鈥淧roud Boys,鈥� a U.S.-based ultra-conservative fraternity-like group that believes in 鈥渞einstating a spirit of Western chauvinism during an age of globalism and multiculturalism.鈥�
A Department of National Defence spokesperson confirmed to The Canadian Press that two men in the group are members of the Royal Canadian Navy. It is not clear if they are on active duty.
In a separate statement to 麻豆传媒, a spokesperson for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said the military is 鈥渋nclusive and diverse,鈥� and 鈥渞acism and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated."
Video posted to Facebook shows the men, dressed in matching black and yellow polo-style shirts, approaching the indigenous demonstrators to debate the Mi鈥橩maq鈥檚 claim to the land on which the ceremony was held.
鈥淭his was Mi鈥橩maq territory. This is now Canada. This is Halifax, Nova Scotia,鈥� said one man who arrived holding what appeared to be a Canadian Red Ensign flag. 鈥淭his is a British colony.鈥�
The Canadian Red Ensign, which bears the Union Jack in the corner, was the national flag until it was replaced by the Maple Leaf design in 1965.
The incident was not the only disruption at an indigenous gathering on Canada Day.
Members of a group protesting the construction of a natural gas storage facility about 60 kilometres from Halifax said three men riding in a truck shot fireworks into the crowd at point-blank range.
鈥淭hey yelled Happy Canada Day, and then they sped off,鈥� said a woman who asked to only be identified as Carol. She said it sounded like gunfire.
With a report from CTV Atlantic鈥檚 Emily Baron Cadloff and files from The Canadian Press
