Sask. Roughriders stand arm-in-arm during O Canada at Mosaic Stadium

Players with the Saskatchewan Roughriders locked arms during the national anthem at Sunday's game versus the Calgary Stampeders at Regina's Mosaic Stadium.

This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump posted comments on Twitter that football players who kneel during the national anthem as an act of protest should be fired.

On Sunday, many NFL players responded to his comments by kneeling, linking arms, or staying in locker rooms during the national anthem.

Unity

"It was just a sign of unity that we're together," said quarterback Kevin Glenn to media after the game.

Glenn said that many players live in the U.S. in the off-season and have family and friends there now. He added some players have played in the NFL before too.

"Sometimes people don't understand that we have to go back to that kind of stuff. We're here for six months, but then we have to go back to that and live in that. That's why we did it."

"A lot of us that locked arms are Americans, we're African-American. So we understand exactly what's going on back home," said offensive lineman Derek Dennis.

"We just wanted to show that just because we're north of the border we're not blind to what's going on back home."

Dennis said the team didn't consider kneeling for the national anthem because it wasn't necessary.

"We all have the opportunity to play in a great country like Canada. We didn't want to disrespect the Canadian flag or the Canadian Armed Forces because this country's done wonders for a lot of us. If it wasn't for the CFL we wouldn't have the opportunity to play professional football," said Dennis.