The five members of the Canadian Armed Forces who disrupted an Indigenous ceremony in Halifax on Canada Day have all been suspended from their duties as the military investigates their actions.
On July 1, a group of Indigenous people gathered at the statue of Edward Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax, to call attention to his racist actions against the Mi'kmaq.
Chief Grizzly Mamma ask we pray for forgiveness and unity. #Resistance150 #canada150
Chief Grizzly Mamma, who is originally from British Columbia, cut off her braids and placed them in front of the statue.
Cornwallis was the governor of Nova Scotia who, in 1749, founded the city of Halifax. However, that same year he issued what has come to be known as the Scalping Proclamation, which offered colonists a bounty for the scalps of any Mi'kmaw people killed in an effort to clear them off the land.
According to CBC Nova Scotia, Chief Grizzly Mamma's protest was a symbolic acknowledgment of that ethnic cleansing.
"You took their scalps, you can have mine too," she said.
The group of Proud Boys who crashed the Cornwallis protest carried a Red Ensign flag, and got into an argument with others about ownership of the land.
According to Vice News, a sixth member of the Canadian Armed Forces not present at the protest is also being investigated.
UPDATE
This article has been updated with additional statements from military leaders.