A musical duo from Nova Scotia says it’s been overwhelming since they experienced a very unusual traffic stop in the United States.
It was earlier this month in Columbus, Ohio when award-winning sisters Cassie and Maggie MacDonald were pulled over after being followed for half an hour on an Interstate.
Cassie tells our newsroom they were speaking on the phone with their mother before the interaction that involved two police cruisers and a search of their vehicle for drugs.
“Both officers came up to each of our windows and the first officer got Maggie out of the car immediately. I wasn’t told why we’d been pulled over,” says Cassie.
The sisters were then asked separately which country they liked more, Canada or the United States and reminded them how serious of an issue fentanyl was coming from over the border.
Since the encounter, Cassie says it’s been intense with a lot of media coverage, but they don’t want to “add fuel to the fire” when it comes to political tensions between our countries.
“We really do believe this, [that] nobody wants that rhetoric out there. We’re all just people. We have friends and family in America, and this has all gotten quite a bit intense.”
How the story got out there
Cassie and Maggie are from Antigonish but grew up in Halifax.
They play contemporary and original Celtic folk music and are about to release a new album.
The way word spread about their traffic stop, is what Cassie describes as “the most East Coast story you’ll ever hear.”
Their mother, she says, shared the story at their aunt’s funeral, which then got into the right hands, including their publicists’.
Cassie says everyone is sort of in disbelief and they do wonder if they overreacted.
“But the fact that my sister and I both had the exact similar experience while being separated. It just feels like it’s not a coincidence.”
Police statement
Ohio police have issued a statement on the matter.
Cassie says their take is that they were doing everything business as usual, however there are some things that don’t add up.
“They claimed that when they asked us that question about which [country] do we prefer, they [say] they were talking about which do we prefer to tour in,” says Cassie.
“I just unequivocally don’t believe that was their intent.”
What do they want people to know?
Cassie says it’s important to support each other in Canada, to love our country and be patriotic, but are concerned about the rhetoric getting too intense.
Some, she adds, have called for them to stand up for Canada more or cancel an upcoming U.S. tour.
“Who is that hurting at the end of the day? I worry for the de-escalation. What’s that going to look like? How can we get back on track?”
She adds, it’s important for musicians to be ambassadors for our country, showing we’re all the same.
“We hurt, we feel, we love…we do it all. There’s a lot of anger out there, rightly so, but there’s got to be a way we can all work together and bring this to a natural kind of peaceful resolution.”
