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 S1st 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, »

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 S1st 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, »
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