Halifax folk duo Cassie and Maggie were pulled over by highway patrol officers while touring in the U.S. and questioned about their love of the U.S.LA West
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 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 Pittsburg 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 cell phone while driving. “It was 100-per-cent our fault,” Cassie admitted.
They were driving a rented 2024 Chevy Malibu with Oklahoma plates. The traffic stop escalated when the musicians said they were Canadians. After an officer brought out a detection dog, the sisters were told the vehicle had tested positive for narcotics. After a physical search turned up nothing more than a bottle of wine and one of the sister’s medication, the questioning continued.
“The officer speaking to me seemed to believe that Canada was the root of where all these drugs were coming from,” Cassie said. “It seemed very much in line with the narrative that has recently been touted.”
The Trump administration has accused Canada of flooding the U.S. with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The unsubstantiated claim is being used as pretext for tariffs placed on Canadian goods.
Before the MacDonald sisters were released from their detainment, they were both subjected, in separate police vehicles by different officers, to a loyalty test.
“Mine asked, ‘I have an important question to ask you, which do you prefer, Canada or the United States?’” Cassie said. “It seemed weighted, as if whether we were going to be given a further difficult time or if we were going to have the opportunity to go on our way depended on the answer I gave.”
Cassie told the officer they had toured the U.S. for years, had a loyal fan base there and “tons of cousins” in Pennsylvania and Maine, and that they’d always felt at home in the country. Maggie told the officer interrogating her that it was much easier to tour in the U.S., because of the shorter distances between major cities.
“It was two police officers just doing their job, but the question seemed out of place,” Cassie said.
Maggie was let go with a warning, but her information was logged into the police database. A representative from the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the incident.
The duo’s music is not political. Recently, however, Canadian artists have released music specifically in response to the heightened diplomatic situation. Last month, Toronto indie-rock band Broken Social Scene released a new live video of a previously released song, Canada Vs America.
On March 7, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy released We Used to Be the Best of Friends, a strummed, folky lament over a shared North American culture and a broken relationship: “Oh, no, what went wrong, used to be the singers in a two-part song.”
Cassie and Maggie have held a U.S. work visa since 2013. They tour extensively in New England and the Midwest, and leverage their northern nationality during their live shows in the U.S.
“Being Canadian is definitely a huge part of our act and our stage banter,” Cassie said. “It’s what our U.S. fans expect.”
The duo’s merchandise for sale is distinctly Canuck. Bestselling items include flannel shirts and a toque with a label that says, “The ultimate in Canadian fashion.”
The sisters make most of their one-on-one contact with their fans at the merchandise table after shows. Since the trade war, American fans have expressed support for the duo.
“They say they’re sorry and that they don’t believe in what’s going on,” Cassie said. “Of course, they don’t need to apologize to us. It’s just a shame that it has come to this.”
