Canadian man removes Nazi flag flying above local home and burns it: 'It has to end now'
A Nazi flag flew high above a residence in a small village in Canada, and hung heavy over concerned community members. It would be the second time a Nazi flag had been flown in Canada this year.
When it appeared as though authorities weren’t going to take action, a man took it upon himself to take the flag and burn it.
In a Facebook video on May 11, Caleb Pelletier, who goes by Caleb Beaudin on Facebook, live streamed himself holding the burning the Nazi flag that had plagued the small community.
“I’m real and I’m not fake,” Pelletier said in the video, his face obscured by a Confederate flag — which he had also removed from the house — tied around his face. “Here it is, watch this bitch burn.”
Pelletier then holds down the flag on the ground while others light it on fire. “Stop racism, this s*** ain’t cool,” he says. “It has to end now and not later.”
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to the man who posted the video and will update the story with his response.
According to the mayor of Kelliher, a village located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the Nazi flag and an American Confederate flag were mounted on an old television receiver tower attached to a residence in the community on the evening of May 9. It received immediate backlash from local community members and Canadians across the nation, as images of the flag spread like wildfire on social media.
Although flying the racist symbol is not illegal, local authorities went to speak with the home owners to express the complaints and concerns raised by community members. “The home owner and the occupant were also told that it was not illegal to fly these flags and that the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] was not acting in an enforcement roll, but rather as a voice for the community,” reads a statement from local authorities obtained by Yahoo Lifestyle.
According to Saskatchewan law enforcement, the man at the residence — who is a 34-year-old living in his grandfather’s house, according to the Huffington Post Canada — verbally agreed to remove the flags. Officers were “confident the matter was in the process of being resolved without further incident.”
However, local authorities were not the only ones to raise concerns to the resident. The village’s mayor, Darcy King, took it upon himself to address the culprit behind the flag.
"It's this no-brainer kid — 34-years old and never grew up," Darcy King told the Huffington Post Canada on May 10. "I contacted his parents ... and they didn't know it was happening. He's living in his grandpa's house and, as soon as it quits raining, he's going to take it down."
The Kelliher Mayor’s Office has not responded to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.
While the local government and authorities believed the issue was resolved, Pelletier told local station CTV Regina that he decided to take down the Nazi and Confederate flags himself after it became clear that “authorities weren’t going to.”
In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, Pelletier shared a picture of the Nazi flag and the accompanying Confederate flag, and read, “Racism is alive and well in this area. This is what white privilege looks like."
While many have praised Pelletier online for taking action, local authorities are investigating “this latest development and will be meeting with the occupant of the home.”
Below the Facebook live video he posted, Pelletier explained that he took matters into his own hands for First Nation kids, the descendants of the original inhabitants of Canada. “Considering the amount of First Nation kids that attended that school in that town, I did it for not only them but for us and First Nation people and our people before us man,” Pelletier commented.
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