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Montreal's Fête nationale committee explains, apologizes for racism controversy

Black students involved in 'ridiculous' flap over Fête nationale parade stand by their coach

Organizers of Montreal's Fête nationale parade are apologizing to anyone who was upset by the sight of black teens pushing floats carrying white people during Saturday's event.

In a viral video showing the first float of the parade, four teens are seen pushing a float with two white performers on board, in front of a giant book that says, "Once upon a time…" in French.

The teens are wearing tan-coloured outfits and are followed by a crowd of predominantly white people wearing white clothes and singing.

The organizers said in a statement released Monday evening that the teens pushing the float were wearing different outfits from the other volunteers in order to stylistically blend in with the pages of the giant book on the float.

The news release says the teens were straining as they pushed the float along its route on St-Denis Street because one of its wheels was damaged shortly after the parade started.

"Certainly, the team never intended to relay a racist image," the news release stated in French.

"We are very sensitive to the fact that people who saw this out of context were shocked. We would like to reiterate how sorry we are for how the events unfolded."

Athletes recruited to push the floats

The organizing committee explained that this year, as in 2014 and 2015, the parade was eco-friendly, meaning the floats were pushed by people instead of relying on motors.

"The team in charge of recruiting participants were therefore looking for people who were strong and fit to take on this role without injuring themselves," the news release said.

A member of the committee knew the head of a local high school's athletics division, and after making a donation to the school's academic perseverance program, he arranged to have the athletes push the floats.

The organizing committee stressed that its only criterion for who would push those floats was that they be in good physical condition.

The organizers also stated that several members of the committee came from different cultural communities themselves.

The committee concluded with offering an apology to the black community, as well as to Sterve Lubin, the head coach at Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School, his team, the singer on the float in the viral video, Annie Villeneuve, as well as the director of the event, Joel Legendre.