Top general apologizes for Canada Day incident
Five servicemen interrupted Indigenous ceremony, singing ‘God Save the Queen’
HALIFAX— Canada’s top general has condemned the actions of a group of Armed Forces members who disrupted a spiritual event on Canada Day marking the suffering of Indigenous peoples at a statue of Halifax’s controversial founder, Edward Cornwallis.
Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff, called the incident “deplorable” and said the men will be removed from training and duties while the incident is investigated.
On Saturday, the group of men were clad in black polo shirts with yellow piping — one of them carrying a Red Ensign flag — as they approached singing “God Save the Queen,” one Mi’kmaq organizer said. 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 men said they were members of the Proud Boys, a self-declared group of “Western Chauvinists.”
Cornwallis, as governor of Nova Scotia, founded Halifax in 1749, and soon after issued a bounty on Mi’kmaq scalps in response to an attack on colonists. His legacy has become controversial, with debate recently over the use of his name on buildings, street signs and parks.
Earlier Tuesday, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said there will be consequences for military personnel who “express intolerance while in — or out — of uniform.”
The commander of Canada’s East Coast Navy confirmed that six members of the military, including members of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and a cadet organization, were involved.
A video of the incident shows five men interacting with spectators at the ceremony. “This is a British colony,” one of the men says in the video. “You’re recognizing the heritage and so are we.”