Canadian Legion Apologizes for KKK Costume at Halloween Party

(Nov. 4) -- The national president of the Royal Canadian Legion has apologized for racist costumes sported at a weekend Halloween contest in an Ontario hall, which has been closed pending an investigation.

Partygoers said they were outraged by two men -- one dressed as a white-robed Ku Klux Klan member, the other wearing blackface and being led around by a noose.

Nonetheless, the pair won first prize in the party's costume competition.

"I sincerely regret the incident,'' legion President Patricia Varga said Wednesday, the Montreal Gazette reported. "I also want the citizens of Canada and the members of the organization to know that this behavior is not condoned by the legion, nor is it reflective of its members."

The legion is Canada's largest veterans organization, with more than 350,000 members.

Mark Andrade said he left the hall in disgust after watching the costumed, hooded Klansman pull the blackfaced man around the room.

"This is 2010," said Andrade, who is black. "That's unacceptable, especially in a legion. A legion, of all places," he told The Toronto Star.

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Terry Nunn, a retired Toronto police officer, called his blackface get-up "a big mistake and I just want it to go away," the Star reported. His friend, Blair Crowley, wore all white and a Confederate flag. "My dad's not racist, his best friend is black," Crowley's teen-age son told the Star.

Constable Chris Dewsbury of the Northumberland Ontario Provincial Police said police are investigating after receiving complaints, but he doesn't expect charges to be filed, Canada's CTV network reported.

"At the present time it would appear this was simply a case of poor judgment into the selection of a Halloween costume and there is no evidence to suggest a criminal offense has taken place," Dewsbury told CTV.

Andrade said he phoned Joy Herrington, president of the legion hall in Campbellford, Ontario, to complain earlier this week. "She was extremely sympathetic, apologetic and disgusted," he said, noting that the organization had been deluged with complaints.