'We promise to be better': N.S. firefighter club criticized after group in KKK costumes attends Halloween dance

A group of Cape Breton firefighters are apologizing after four people showed up at a Halloween dance dressed in what appeared to be Ku Klux Klan costumes.

The North Sydney Firefighters’ Club hosted the event at its club in North Sydney, N.S., Saturday night.

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“We apologize to any and all of our community who were offended or hurt by our lack of actions. These four individuals are in no way, shape or form associated with our organization,” said the club in a statement on its Facebook page.

“We promise to be better in the future.”

Pictures submitted to CTV News show four people dressed in long white robes and pointed hoods. One was carrying a large cross.

People who attended the dance told CTV News volunteers took the cross and told the group to remove their hoods; they were allowed to stay after doing so.

Hundreds of comments about the incident have been made on the club’s Facebook page – some questioning why the group was allowed to stay at the party.

The reaction prompted Wade Gouthro, the deputy fire chief of the North Sydney Fire Department, to issue his own apology and statement on Facebook.

“I have been reading your comments and to be honest I have been very reluctant to post just because I don’t want to add fuel to the fire so to speak,” said Gouthro in his post.

“I can tell you this, the members of North Sydney and myself are very sorry from the bottom of our hearts and we ask for your forgiveness. We would certainly never intentionally hurt or insult anyone regardless of race, color, orientation or religion.”

Gouthro wasn’t working the dance but noted he has worked many Halloween dances during his 29 years with the fire department.

“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,” said Gouthro.

“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.”

Gouthro says club members are “all hurting in our hearts” after disappointing the community they work to protect.

He says they “promise to do better in the future.”

Earlene MacMullin, the councillor for the area, says while she’s disgusted by the incident, she feels people’s anger should be directed at those who wore the costumes.

"My heart actually breaks for the fire department,” says MacMullin.

"To deem an entire organization as racist and to pull them through the mud when they do so much for everyone; they made a mistake. They said they were sorry. What more do you want?"

‘A visceral threat’

African-Nova Scotian educator and activist El Jones says offensive costumes are particularly wrong given racism is still an issue.

"Anybody who sees those costumes, it is a visceral threat,” says 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."

The identities of the people in the costumes haven't been independently verified.

No one from the North Sydney Volunteer Fire Department would do an interview Monday.

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