A video of a float carrying a white woman in a summery blue dress pushed by black people in khakis during a parade in Montreal during a Quebec public holiday, has ignited a debate about whether the event organisers are racist.
The video, posted to Facebook by Montreal resident Félix Brouillet, had racked up 1.7 million views at the time of publication.
The float was part of a parade celebrating Quebec's Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, an annual event held on June 24 and offically known as the National Holiday.
"I'm not sure that the parade organisers understood the concept of diversity," Mr Brouillet wrote in the post.
Maxime Laporte, president of the Société de St-Jean Baptiste de Montréal, told CBC News that the video had been taken out of context.
"We need to look at this situation as a whole," Mr Laporte said.
"It was a wonderful parade that represented [Montreal's] diversity. People need to make a better judgment call in these circumstances."
A commenter of Mr Brouillet's post added: "I'm not sure you saw the whole show.
Another screen grab from the video. Source: Facebook
"There were also white people pushing a float while black people were walking around!!!!!!"
In a Facebook post, the Association of Muslims and Arabs for Secularism in Quebec questioned the float.
"What a message to send the city to the Montreal population by organizing this parade. What do you say to the black kid who's happy to celebrate the national holiday?"
The parade organiser La Fête nationale du Québec à Montréal, defended the float, citing environmental reasons.
"Floats are driven by citizens rather than being motorised," it wrote, adding the participants were not chosen based on the colour of their skin.
"On the other hand, those who saw the parade were able to observe that, more than ever, the diversity of Quebec was celebrated and that people from all backgrounds were in honour."
Volunteers filmed in the video were recruited by the Association for School Perseverance and Youth and the local Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School Sports Team.
"I think it's a shame that people saw a colour and not the participants," Sterve Lubin, a head coach in the athletics department at the Louis-Joseph-Papineau, told CBC.
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