Canadian folk duo Cassie and Maggie asked about Canadian or U.S. loyalty at bizarre traffic stop in Ohio [View all]

[demmiblue]

A routine traffic stop in Ohio turned into a bizarre loyalty test for a Halifax-based folk duo last week. The Celtic-music sisters Cassie and Maggie MacDonald say they were on a short American tour when they were pulled over for distracted driving by two highway patrol officers who separated the siblings and asked them each if they preferred Canada to the United States.

“I found it to be a very jarring question,” said fiddler-singer Cassie MacDonald. “And the fact we were both asked that question independently makes me think it was a mandate coming from above.”

The unsettling interrogation comes at a time of tense Canada-U.S. relations caused by an American-instigated trade war and remarks by President Donald Trump, who has publicly eyed Canada as a 51st state and referred to former prime minister Justin Trudeau as “governor.”

The Juno-nominated sisters were travelling on I-70 East to Pittsburgh from Columbus, Ohio, when they were tailed by two cars from the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office and eventually pulled over. Maggie MacDonald was speaking on a cellphone while driving. “It was 100-per-cent our fault,” Cassie admitted.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/article-canadian-folk-duo-cassie-and-maggie-face-bizarre-loyalty-test-at/