Man wearing Nazi uniform while kids went trick-or-treating was 'disturbing,' woman says
A woman out trick-or-treating with her children on Halloween says she was disturbed to see a man wearing a full Nazi uniform on a residential street in Cole Harbour, N.S.
Witness says man was pushing stroller and appeared to be accompanying children who were trick-or-treating
Vernon Ramesar · CBC News
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WARNING: This story includes a picture of a swastika.
A Halifax-area woman says she was disturbed to see a man wearing a full Nazi uniform while trick-or-treating with children on Halloween.
Cole Harbour, N.S., resident Paige Hoveling told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia she was out with a group of children and adults when her son spotted the man.
"My 10-year-old said, 'Hey, mom, there's someone dressed up as a German general,'" Hoveling said.
"My husband and I and the adults that we were with looked up and we went, 'No buddy, that's a Nazi. And that's not OK.'"
She said the man was pushing a stroller and appeared to be accompanying children who were trick-or-treating. He looked like he was wearing an eyepatch and a Nazi uniform, including a swastika armband, she said.
"If you think of a Nazi in any Hollywood movie you've seen, that's what it looked like," she said.
CBC News spoke with two other residents, who didn't want to be interviewed, but who saw the man on Halloween and confirmed the photo was real.
A witness said the man was wearing a full Nazi uniform and pushing a stroller on Halloween as kids went trick-or-treating on the residential street in Cole Harbour, N.S. (Paige Hoveling)
Hoveling said her group decided to stay away from the man.
"It is disturbing," she said. "I don't know if this guy thought it was a joke or if he actually believes in this, but either way, it's really disturbing to see symbols of hate like that in our community.
"And we're such a small, tight-knit community here."
She said she talked to her son afterward and explained to him why the costume was not acceptable.
Hoveling said she searched online to try to determine if police should be called. But she found the legislation vague and wasn't sure if she should call the police non-emergency number.
The federal government’s Bill C-9, also called the Combatting Hate Act, came into effect in July and makes it a crime to promote hatred against identifiable groups in public using certain terrorism-related or hate symbols.
The law specifically targets two Nazi symbols — the swastika, also called the hakenkreuz, and the SS lightning bolts — and symbols associated with the federal government’s list of terrorist entities.
Wayne MacKay, professor emeritus of law at Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law, told CBC News the legal definition of promoting hatred is narrow.
"They make a point of saying it has to be vilification and detestation," MacKay said. "Hurt feelings and offences are not enough. And that is in order to protect free speech."
"From a law point of view, it's not likely to produce either civil or criminal consequences for the parties involved."
In an email to CBC News, the RCMP said it received a complaint about the costume on Nov. 2.
It said determining whether a Criminal Code offence occurred would require an investigation.
Investigators would need to collect evidence of the "willful promotion of hatred and reach the threshold of reasonable and probable grounds."
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