Screenshot/Power & Politics CBC guest Gavin McInnes defended an 18th-century bounty on Indigenous people on

A CBC interview ended awkwardly on Wednesday after a controversial guest defended an 18th-century decree offering money for the dead bodies of Indigenous people.

Gavin McInnes was on "Power & Politics" to discuss the Canadian military's decision to suspend five servicemen who interrupted an Mi'kmaq ceremony on Canada Day.

In videos of that confrontation, one of the men identifies himself as a member of the Proud Boys, a group that McInnes founded.

Protesters were holding a ceremony at the statue of Edward Cornwallis in Halifax to acknowledge the suffering of Indigenous peoples.

Cornwallis founded Halifax in 1749 and offered "10 Guineas for every Indian Micmac taken, or killed, to be paid upon producing such savage taken or his scalp."

On CBC News Network Wednesday, host Hannah Thibedeau asked McInnes, "Given Cornwallis issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi'kmaq people, can you see why the Indigenous people were protesting?"

McInnes replied: "Can you see why Cornwallis issued a bounty on Mi'kmaqs?"