A man charged after a cross was burned last winter on the lawn of a rural Nova Scotia interracial couple, has pleaded guilty to criminal harassment.

But Justin Rehberg of Avondale, N.S. pleaded not guilty to inciting racial hatred, during his brief court appearance in Windsor Monday.

Two other charges -- uttering threats and mischief -- were dropped by the prosecution.

Shayne Howe, who is black, and Michelle Lyon, who is white, awoke in their Poplar Grove, N.S. home on Feb. 21 to find a large wooden cross burning on their front lawn.

"It doesn't seem like Canada to me at all," Howe told CTV Atlantic on Monday.

The cross had a noose attached and the couple told police they also heard racial slurs being hurled at them, but they could not see the perpetrators.

"It was a direct incitement of hatred," said Lyon. "I mean, he's an African-Canadian male, and lives in a household that a cross was burnt on. So how is that not incitement?"

The couple, who have five children between the ages of two and 17, said the incident terrified their family and they contemplated leaving the community.

But the couple decided to stay after an outpouring of public support.

"I go out and as soon as people see me, the come right over and say, ‘It's OK. Don't move because of them,'" Howe said. "And I still get 100 per cent support from them. People I don't even know, they just walk right up to me and start talking about it."

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Brigdit Leger told CTV.ca last February the incident "enraged the public."

Rehberg's case was adjourned until Nov. 5.

Justin Rehberg's brother, Nathan Rehberg will go on trial Nov. 10. He faces charges of public incitement of hatred, mischief, uttering threats and criminal harassment.

The cross-burning incident reverberated across the country, particularly because of Nova Scotia's long history with racism against the African-Canadian community.

Howe said the couple worries about how some may treat their biracial children.

"Something has to be done to prove to everybody else that you just can't go out and do something like that," he said.

Just days after the cross-burning incident, Halifax officially apologized for razing the century-old black neighbourhood Africville in the 1960s to make room for a bridge.

With a report by CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell