After executive apology called insincere, deputy fire chief issues personal apology
A firefighter club in Nova Scotia is facing criticism following an incident involving a group of people who attended their Halloween party dressed in what appeared to be Ku Klux Klan (KKK) costumes.
The incident happened on Saturday night when the North Sydney Firefighters’ Club hosted the event at its club.
The partygoers were four people dressed in long white robes and pointed hoods, according to a report from CTV News. One was carrying a large cross.
Volunteers took the cross and told the group to remove their hoods; after doing so, the group was allowed to stay, according to the report, citing people who attended the dance.
As Halloween approaches, the scariest part of the season for employers can be how to handle inappropriate or offensive costumes in the workplace, according to a previous report.
Following the incident, the North Sydney Fire Fighters Club executive team issued an apology on social media.
Source: North Sydney Fire Fighters Club Facebook page
People online, however, did not feel that the apology was genuine.
“The apology is weak and to say it was a mistake is BS. It’s more like [they] got exposed but I am not surprised that something like this has occurred because of the long history of racism amongst the Cape Breton Regional Fire Services,” said Darren Desmond, who works at the Nova Scotia Community College, about the post.
“There [have] been two career firefighters that were African Nova Scotian in the history of the department and both were faced with barriers, systemic racism and racist attitudes amongst some of its members, and all [of the] above [was] never addressed properly or with support from the decision makers.”
Nikki-Marie Lloyd, who works at The Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, said that what the volunteers did was “not a mistake”.
“They should have never been let in. Apologies are meaningless with no actions behind them. Just know those ‘accepting’ your apology do not speak for the whole nations of people who have been hurt by this. Although those people may not be associated with your organization, their actions are because it was allowed. We are living in 2024 and this racism is still so in your face.”
Racial discrimination is still widespread in Canada, judging by people’s experience in the past five years, according to a previous Statistics Canada (StatCan) report.
Following the backlash, Wade Gouthro, deputy fire chief of the North Sydney Fire Department, issued his own apology and statement on Facebook.
“Well folks, as Deputy Fire Chief of the North Sydney Fire department, I feel I must make a post,” he said.
“I can honestly tell you that the situation at the North Sydney Firefighters club is not who we are or what we stand for.”
He claimed that they “are very sorry from the bottom of our hearts” and that they are asking for forgiveness.
“We would certainly never intentionally hurt or insult anyone regardless of race, color, orientation or religion.”
Though Gouthro was not working when the incident happened, he claimed he has worked many Halloween dances over his 29-year service.
“I am not making any excuses for last night. When we have Halloween dances, you never know what you are going to see come through the door. Most times we think ‘Ah it is a costume’ without really thinking of the big picture or the past it represents. So when you folks comment that they shouldn’t have gotten in and that we need to do better, you are right, and we will,” he said.
To finish off, he left “a sincere promise to do better in the future”.
Offensive costumes are particularly wrong given racism is still an issue, said African-Nova Scotian educator and activist El Jones in a CTV News report. The report showed a picture of the four individuals in what appeared to be KKK costumes.
"Anybody who sees those costumes, it is a visceral threat,” said Jones.
"People are experiencing racial terror now. We have mosque shootings. We have people being run over by cars. We have racial terror crimes happening in our society right now. It's not something that's in the past and it's not a joke."
In March, two labour groups called on the Toronto city government to address racial inequality in the city.
