r/NovaScotia • u/SebastianPlaysThis • 13h ago
So... What's with the Confederate flags here?
For some context, I'm originally from a very rural and conservative town in a northern state in the US, and moved to Canada quite a long while ago, with me being in Nova Scotia for a few years now. When I lived in the US I would see them a surprising amount for living in a northern state, and always laughed at how ignorant of history you have to be to fly or wear that flag, let alone in a state that fought for the union. I lived in Ontario for years and never saw a Confederate flag outside of when the "freedom convoy" was going on, but since moving to Nova Scotia I've seen them quite a bit.
Can anyone explain why? I feel like several things need to have gone really wrong to have that flag here.
Edit** I do think we are a bit too far removed to assume it's anyone into Dukes Of Hazard
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u/RespecDawn 12h ago
They're racists inhaling American right-wing propoganda. That's pretty much it.
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u/Long_Initial_9924 5h ago
And you’re tolerant and accepting of them?
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u/Single-Clue-1402 4h ago
All of your comments on here are not clever, they reveal a lot about your character, and it is not good.
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u/RespecDawn 4h ago edited 1h ago
I'm a firm believer in Popper's Paradox of Tolerance. I am not tolerant and accepting of people who are racist.
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u/The_Dilla_Collection 1h ago
Quite tolerant. I can’t even remember the last time we rounded any of them up and murdered them for their belief in inequality.
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u/FlyerForHire 3h ago
I’m 70+ and I have to say I’ve seen more confederate flags in the last fifteen years than in my first 55 years.
I think it’s the toddler effect: “You shouldn’t do that. Oh yeah, just watch me!!”
Ignorant people who think it’s a flex.
But as a flag it does serve a useful purpose: it helps you avoid idiots.
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u/Ok-Ad-9074 11h ago
I was almost hit by a truck that flew a confederate flag a few years ago…was exiting a hiking trail after a camping trip, the guy intentionally sped up 🫠 (I am Black). There are definitely certain areas I try not to visit alone and that I wouldn’t be caught in after sundown, mind you I’m born and raised right here on the east coast. While these people may be uneducated, racist or ignorant they 1000% can be dangerous.
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u/Every_Cloud_1771 28m ago
That’s insane! We’re looking to relocate to Nova Scotia and definitely want to avoid those areas. Can anyone elaborate? Thanks in advance.
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u/Long_Initial_9924 5h ago
LOL
Sure, bud…
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u/RedMcMuffin 1h ago
Serious question, why are you desperately defending this? What does the confederate flag mean to you, why is it important?
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u/jmatsumoto 51m ago
That can’t be THAT serious a question. I mean, you and everyone else knows exactly why he’s working so hard in the comments - he’s racist.
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u/MyGruffaloCrumble 8h ago edited 52m ago
Extra ignorance. Because of American media there’s a contingent here who believe a cartoon fantasy of what it means. Most seem to profess it means they’re a “rebel” and some actually don’t mind what it really stands for.
Personally I don’t think you’re much of a rebel wrapping your vehicle with the same gack every other “rebel” does.
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u/WoollyWitchcraft 12h ago
Uneducated racist dumbfucks unfortunately are sprinkled over our fair province like headlice on the floor after a headbanging party.
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u/Long_Initial_9924 5h ago
So you’re free will and speech is more valid than theirs?
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u/Angloriously 4h ago
Canada doesn’t have free speech, it’s freedom of expression
Hate speech is not tolerated by law, so no….it’s not “valid” for anyone to target an identifiable group (eg by being racist) and wilfully promote hatred against said group
Freedom of expression does not mean freedom from personal consequences. If someone is indeed an uneducated racist dumbfuck, there’s nothing stopping another person from calling them one. It’s pretty funny that their uneducated racist dumbfuck hill is the one you’re choosing to die on.
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u/EnvironmentBright697 1h ago
This is correct, we do not have free speech in Canada. You can be criminally charged for example by denying the holocaust, which would be protected under the 1st amendment of the constitution in the United States.
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u/Angloriously 48m ago
Some people are too busy lapping up USA propaganda to learn the first thing about our constitution or criminal code. It’d be funny if you didn’t realize they also get to vote in Canadian elections.
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u/WoollyWitchcraft 42m ago
Interestingly, I didn’t say anywhere that they shouldn’t be allowed to have a confederate flag, at all, or anything about their free will or free speech.
I just said they are racist dumb fucks.
We don’t have “free speech” in Canada, but even if we did, you are never free from public judgement and consequences of the things you say/do.
Fly racist dumb fuck flag, be assumed to be racist dumb fuck.
Defend racist dumb fuck flag flyers under the banner of “free speech”, also be assumed to be racist dumb fuck.
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u/Mournful-puma 1h ago
You probably eat hotdogs for the shape.
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u/Snuggle_Pounce 5m ago
And why do you think your homophobia makes you less of a dumbfuck than the racists?
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u/Mournful-puma 3m ago
I never said it was a bad thing to eat them for their shape. Don't put words and meanings into my mouth.
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u/Dog-boy 8h ago
I’ve seen them in rural Ontario forever. Most started as a Dukes thing but it def has morphed into a racism dogwhistle. Most people I originally knew who had them didn’t know enough history to know which side it represented myself included. I knew about the civil war obviously but I always struggled to remember the names of the north and the south. Knowing it was a Confederate flag didn’t mean much. Eventually it sank in and I realized what it meant.
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u/ianfixesdents 12h ago
There are very dumb people here too. History is hard.
Dumb people listen to paid influencers who often aren’t even Canadian tell lies about how they are mistreated by Ottawa. Then they get a flag to tell others what they now think.
And the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard was cool.
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u/Realistic_Young9008 12h ago
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention the General Lee - i was in middle school in the South Shore when that show aired and it seemed there was an explosion of confederate flags and such for a long time. The "General Lee" or some knock off even came to our area for photo ops. Not excusing the flag or its racist meaning but there may also be some weird holdover from thst.
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u/Few-Dragonfruit160 12h ago
Exactly. I loved the show (I was probably younger than you at the time) and had a model of the car. Zero context and zero understanding of how terrible (and revisionist) that symbol is. But it's not like I went and made it my personality as an adult.
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u/sarjager 3h ago
I am a huge fan of Pantera, Dimebag Darrell was my hero. He had what I thought was a really cool guitar with what I knew as the "rebel" flag (I was young and dumb and I'm sure I had heard the phrase "confederate flag" but didn't really even know what it represented) when I was 17, I got to meet Dimebag 6 months before he was killed and got him to sign my arm and then went and got it tattooed the next day. A few months later I got the guitar done. I walked around with that shit on my body for like 13 or 14 years embarrassed about it once I was old enough to know better.
A couple years ago I got a friend who's an incredible tattoo artist to rework it for me. She refused to charge me for it so I donated what I would have paid her to a BLM group in her name.
I believe most of us live and learn and grow, and also that some people have no capacity for growth due to their own refusal to get out of their own way. Two things can be true at once. I made an uninformed, bad choice and no one around me tried to stop me, but I don't know if I would have even listened to them in my young, no-one-can-tell-me-shit days. I'm glad I aged and educated myself out of that.
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u/Cranky_SithLord_21 3h ago
No. We'd like to think it was from that cool old show, but, alas, earwax... The cold hard facts are Nova Scotia has a MAJOR problem with racism. Period. It's not limited to "dumb rednecks" and their rag on a stick. Lived experience. Where i grew up, there were smart, educated people, do anything for (almost) anyone that flew the flag and were some of the most hateful. There were lots of rednecks too, but racism isn't picky about who it infects, just who it associates with. And that location was happy to let it fester. Even today, theres a standing hate rivalry between it and a nearby Black community. Where i live now, you'd think it is a quiet sleepy little town, til you hear some of the folks here get on about Indian people, First Nations, or Middle Eastern folks. It's vile. It's not a sprinkling, as others have said. Its willful, ugly and passes through generations...
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u/knox902 12h ago
See that lady on the $10 bill? Look her up. Lots of people still living in the past in NS.
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u/Iamwomper 11h ago
You mean pictou county. Lol
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u/Saltwater73 1h ago
No, he means all of Nova Scotia. This place is a dumping ground for racism, xenophobia and unintelligencia
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u/Ireallydfk 12h ago edited 12h ago
They’re commemorating the historic Battle of Confederation Bridge /s
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u/Dependent-Program-66 11h ago
I don’t see many in the city, but I do see one once every few months. I assume that they are racist pigs. Why else would you fly such a thing?
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u/_BearsBeetsBattle_ 9h ago
Lack of education and brain cells.
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u/Itwasuntilitwasnt 11h ago
To be honest they don’t even know why they have the flag.
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u/SmellyAstronauts 7h ago
They know and we know; It's because they're racists.
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u/queerblunosr 2h ago
Yeah. I’ll give a pass to kids who probably don’t know what it means yet, but fuck any adults flying that trash around. (and I mean actual kids, not like… 19yos. But like the 13yo copying someone they think is cool but don’t know what all the stuff they’re copying actually means yet kind of thing.)
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u/No-Veterinarian2008 11h ago
Right …Cape Breton was super bad it was hung everywhere …Pictou area just as bad
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u/Delllley 4h ago
Canada has a lot of uneducated, hateful rednecks that cling to Republican American culture and values because Canadians largely don't acknowledge or entertain those beliefs.
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u/markayhali 4h ago
The online radicalization is happening everywhere. The internet is not just a US thing.
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u/prpgaNda 2h ago
Basically if you see somebody who resembles a redneck in this province, all your worst assumptions about that person are correct.
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u/GreatGrandini 1h ago
They are morons who think they are rebels for flying it. Thinking they are making a brave statement, when really it's a confession of their own mediocrity.
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u/huntfishinvestns 9h ago
10-15 years ago it used to be more prevalent, and the majority that I noticed were folks that enjoyed a country/redneck lifestyle and many were shocked to find out how it was viewed by the majority.
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u/Unhappy-Vegetable-28 11h ago
I lived in Nova Scotia my whole life. I’ve never really seen them. The few I’ve seen they weren’t proud racists just proud red necks
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u/queerblunosr 2h ago
I see it a few times a week tbh (though to be fair I spend anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week driving back and forth and around my county lol)
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u/02C_here 5h ago
I moved up here from the southern US. It is mostly a country life/red neck badge. If you explain why it's racist their answer is some form of "heritage" or "it doesn't mean that to me."
The stadium country twats fly it, so do these people. They think it's cool and choose to ignore the ACTUAL history.
Assuming they are all racist is pretty heavy handed.
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u/Long_Initial_9924 5h ago
They aren’t racist, they’re southerners
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u/Single-Clue-1402 4h ago
That flag is a symbol of racism and suppprt for slavery. If you fly it, people are going to assume (and for good reason) that you support that values that flag represents.
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u/Snoochey 5h ago
It started with the dukes of hazard for most people in their 30s+ at least.
My brother has a flag and that is where it started for him. Loved the dukes of hazard. As we grew up I learned what it meant and argued against it, he didn’t want to be told to not like this thing he’s liked his entire life because of something he didn’t even know about, and so I’d tell him to lose the flag and he’d tell me to mind my business.
Over a lifetime he’s found himself being accepted by the back woods racist trash and got into drugs and all that. So he’s grown to understand what it means, but doesn’t have a problem with it because he doesn’t hate people due to their race - but he embraces using stereotypes and shit and repeats the racist talking points.
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u/Jumpy-Sea-2070 2h ago
Most people coming to Canada probably wouldn’t know what that flag is historically or modernly.
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u/Electronic_Trade_721 2h ago
Perhaps unrelated to the flags showing up now (but maybe not,) during the US Civil War, there was considerable support for the Confederacy in Nova Scotia. William Johnston Almon, who has a steet named after him in Halifax, was a prominent supporter. There was even a school in Eastern Passage named after a Confederate ship (Tallahassee) that was sheltered and resupplied there, and was only renamed recently. Alexander Keith Jr. was even a Confederate spy.
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u/SebastianPlaysThis 45m ago
I didn't know that. I'm glad it got renamed. I don't know how much of a lingering effect that might have, but it certainly could be a factor. My hometown had a very large kkk funeral in the 1930s and considering how small my town population is, most people that live there are direct descendents of kkk members, with only slightly older generations fondly remembering their fathers and grandfather's that all are photographed wearing those hoods. Weird for a village in Michigan. Anyhow, might still be some lingering influence from what you mentioned here.
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u/astaroth777 1h ago
I saw a sticker on the back of truck the other day that said "Proud to be everything a Liberal hates". Wondering if they used their seatbelts tbh.
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u/PerigeeOnThisApogee 59m ago
During the American Civil War, Nova Scotia was a very popular location for the Confederates to operate out of. Several merchants and prominent members of society were pro-South and those individuals helped fund the South. On a few instances Confederates ended up settling in Nova Scotia during and after the American Civil War. Several locations in HRM were named after the Confederate gunboat Tallahassee. Only in the last several years have those locations changed their name to something other than the Tallahassee.
I know if you go further afield outside of HRM you will see more Confederate flags, is it because of the current political/economic/societal shifts or is it because of "history"? If you had travelled the province +10 years ago I would have said it was because of "history" but more recently I can probably say it has to do with the current climate.
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u/Pigeon11222 12h ago
Maybe their internet is so slow they are unaware that the civil war ended? This was actually a thing during the civil war, units kept fighting and enslaved people didn’t know they were now free because it took a while for information to travel.
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u/Duke_Of_Halifax 12h ago
It's been a rural thing here for awhile, but got turned up louder after 2016.
It's a bunch of racist idiots who are too ignorant to understand anything.
Google "The Goler Family, Nova Scotia" to learn just how backwater and hick-filled this province is, and has always been- remember, the CNC documentary was made in 1984, and the book detailing the full extent of it came out in 1998.
Shit was still going on at the turn of the century.
For context, the person who was President in 1998 was Bill Fucking Clinton- that's how recent it was.
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u/falloutisacoolseries 11h ago
Don't look up the Golers if you are bothered by child abuse.
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u/Successful-Gift8636 4h ago
When I was a kid, 80s, people would throw Goler around as an insult, "ew, get away from me you Goler" and had no idea what the origin was, later in life I learned and was horrified. I used it too, all I knew was that it was something insulting and everyone else was saying it
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u/Yorbayuul81 12h ago
Where is it that you are seeing it? Being flown? As bumper stickers or license plates? Tattoos? Curious as I’ve not seen one in several years.
(I did have the General Lee hot wheels as a kid in the early’80s though)
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u/Iamwomper 11h ago
Pictou county is rife.
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u/Astrokiwi 3h ago
I haven't seen them flying around very much but we bought a house and the previous owners left a confederate flag in the shed for some reason. That went straight to the bin.
I have also seen several people with gun silhouette stickers on their cars, or like a half machine gun half maple leaf.
As an immigrant myself, I'm not super happy with the implied message there. But I'm also a white English-speaking immigrant, which means people complain about immigrants to my face and expect me to agree with them, even while I'm still trying to sort out my PR.
BUT Pictou county is changing as well. The birth rate is lower than its death rate (young people just didn't stick around), so its population is only maintained (and now even growing) because of immigration from overseas and from the rest of Canada. Remote work and the housing crisis meant a lot of younger people moved out here to afford a decent house. The result is that the elementary schools are a lot more diverse than the older population, and we'll see the population change as the older folks die off really.
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u/SmellyAstronauts 7h ago
Is that why housing is so cheap up that way? No one wants to live among the racists.
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u/SebastianPlaysThis 12h ago
I've seen it on hats and trucks, and I've seen the flag being sold in a nearby store.
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u/swimming_in_agates 6h ago
Hey we’d like to know the name of the store so we can make sure to not patronize them.
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u/Formal_Parsley275 4h ago
I remember seeing a house with a confederate flag in Oxford back in late August after from going to Moncton for a road trip back to Dartmouth and I was thinking: Is there a trump supporter living there or something!? Yeah, it’s weird
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u/Pitiful_Lake2522 2h ago
Where in Nova Scotia? I’ve lived here my whole life and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one
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u/Ok_Wing8459 2h ago
There’s one on the road to Crystal Crescent Beach directly across the inlet from the convenience store. Just past Sambro.
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u/Jakej4Mlakej 2h ago
There’s quite a few going through New Ross. Ive seen a couple in Middle Stewiacke as well as some Trump flags.
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u/GreatBigJerk 1m ago
It's put up by people who want to fly a Nazi flag, but are afraid of getting the shit kicked out of them.
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u/InfamousPooter 12h ago
Some might be just be big fans of the Dukes of hazard. But yeah, probably still racist.
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u/tacofever 1h ago edited 1h ago
Flag or flags? How many? There's one nutjob that's been brought up here before who flies one, but as far as I know it's not a trend and expressing it as such gives a false impression to people viewing this thread (and an excuse for some people to pop off with "CANADA IS A RACIST COUNTRY!"). So let's be truthful and accurate here.
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u/SebastianPlaysThis 42m ago
I've seen probably over 5 different trucks with the flag, and a handful of people wearing it on their hats. I do want to be fair and say that I've heard less racism from people here than when I would go to Alberta, even if I didn't see Confederate flags there during my visits.
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u/tacofever 40m ago
Okay, thank you for the clarification. It only takes one "I saw some things" on a Reddit post to turn into something larger.
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u/SebastianPlaysThis 37m ago
I think I might have seen who you were mentioning earlier. Which I did only see the same guy with the flag on his truck for quite a while, but it's been notable that he's definitely not the only one.
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u/SmegmaRocketship 6h ago edited 5h ago
Nova Scotia is basically Canada’s Florida.
Downvote all you want but it’s true. Outside of halifax, this province is full of rednecks and racists. I know because I live here and have for a decade.
Nova Scotia is Canadas wang ( and that makes Yarmouth the dick hole)
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u/13thmurder 3h ago edited 3h ago
Also American here who has lived in Canada for several years in a few different provinces before NS.
As far as I'm concerned it means the same thing it does in the US; they're proudly racist particularly against black people.
Nova Scotia is the most blatantly racist place I've ever been, more than anywhere in the US. It's different though, in the US the racists are often loud and aggressive about it becuase there's people pushing back. In NS it's just quiet and subtle becuase it's so normal and expected.
NS also seems to have more connection to black history than the rest of Canada and it really seems to piss off a lot of the locals, and they like to show their opposition though confederate flags. But again, it's so subtle and normal here. I have several coworkers who will use a certain not very nice word to refer to our one black coworker when he's not around, but they say it so casually it doesn't even sound hateful, though I'm sure it still is.
I also see MAGA hats/stickers around a fair bit too and keep thinking WTF this is supposed to be Canada.
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u/Saltwater73 2h ago
The simple answer is because Nova Scotia has a serious racism and xenophobia problem. That nice Maritimer reputation is fake.
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u/EnvironmentBright697 1h ago
I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve never seen a confederate flag anywhere in the province. I’ve seen plenty of pride flags even in the most rural parts of the province (happy pride month to those who celebrate). Personally I find this hard to believe. Take and post a picture next time.
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u/SebastianPlaysThis 1h ago
I'm often driving when I see trucks with Confederate flags and I don't particularly like taking pictures of strangers. And I'm not the only one to see this, you can look at the comments.
I am very thankful that I've seen way more pride flags than Confederate flags though. That is a nice thought.
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u/EnvironmentBright697 1h ago
The other comments don’t convince me either. It’s the internet, anyone can just make anything up. I don’t want to call anyone a liar, it’s just personally very hard for me to believe. But I’ve lived in the HRM exclusively, so I can admit that living somewhere more rural maybe I’d have a higher chance of seeing it myself.
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u/meat_cove 57m ago
You have a hard time believing there are people racist enough to fly the confederate flag here?
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u/EnvironmentBright697 54m ago
racists would be more likely to fly a swastika flag than the confederate flag. Or the “diagolon” flag. Even a “blacked out” or red ensign flag. In fact that’s another part of this story that makes me doubt its validity.
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u/meat_cove 42m ago
Racists think the confederate flag gives them a little bit of plausible deniability, which they like, because they are cowards. They can just claim they like the Dukes of Hazzard if confronted.
Anyway, somebody got a picture of the one in Sambro: https://www.reddit.com/r/halifax/comments/1fauwi6/confederate_flag_in_sambro
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u/darthfruitbasket 19m ago
I have (covering the busted back window of a pickup). Hang out in Sackvegas some Friday night, you might see one.
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u/snc1881 2h ago
Ill ask this as well, why are there so many Palestinian flags here???
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u/Everdred_ 2h ago
Because fuck israel - free Palestine.
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u/snc1881 2h ago
Ahh and here we go. How did Isreal imprison and wrong you? How has your life been affected by Isreal?
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u/Mystaes 12h ago
Simply put because the confederate flag is used to signal something else other then support for the confederacy…