EDITORIAL – Performance by masked group of ‘supremacists’ was a failure

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

A BUNCH OF GUYS in black clothing and white masks showed up in Kamloops Sunday (Sept. 27, 2026) in a disgusting display of racist — and, perhaps, fascist — behaviour.

They were, according to Kúkwpi7 Rosanne Casimir, associated with a group called the Second Sons Canada, linked with white nationalist ideology. Social media followed their activities throughout the day, reporting that they arrived in a couple of vans, paraded near the residential school, then moved to the Pacific Way overpass and draped a banner with the words ‘GOT BONES?’ over the railing.

Earlier reporting on the Second Sons indicates one of their key priorities is “remigration,” the removal of non-whites from Canada. To be clear, at this writing, the identity of the group hasn’t been positively confirmed but police are working on it.

Whoever it was, the action was very probably intended to get attention in advance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Wednesday, and it succeeded. But otherwise, it failed.

The City of Kamloops posted a brief condemnation, stating, “The City of Kamloops stands in unity with our neighbours at Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc. There is no place for hate in Secwepemcúl’ecw. As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we learn from those who have cared for this valley since time immemorial. We stand against those who deny our history and condemn all acts of racism, denialism, and hate.”

Politicians at the provincial level became involved as well. Premier David Eby posted this:

“White nationalists gathering on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc land to intimidate people is disgusting, dangerous and cowardly — as they hide their faces.

“We stand with Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and everyone who was targeted in Kamloops.

White supremacist organizing is on the rise, and we must do more to fight it.”

Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson called the gathering “hateful and meant to intimidate” and said it has “no place in British Columbia.”

Here’s what the guys in the black outfits don’t understand — they’re cruel demonstration degrades whatever their cause might be because it angers right-thinking people rather than convincing them of the message. If the plan is to intimidate, it fails.

It also does immense damage to legitimate inquiry about what’s known as “the 215” or “The Missing.” We don’t need anyone to tell us that no bodies have been found at the Kamloops residential school. No excavation has been done, though band leaders have said that will eventually happen, and work continues at the site.

Coincidentally, the appearance of the protest group — if that’s what they can be called — happened the same day that independent researcher Nina Green sent a long letter to Members of Parliament contending, with documentation to back it up, that no residential school children have been identified as missing.

Green states in the letter that quarterly returns for the Kamloops school from 1943 to 1952, which are available online, establish that every student is accounted for during that decade. She says the federal government has the quarterly returns for 1952 to 1977 but hasn’t released them.

Quarterly returns were a list of students, including details of exactly when they attended. They were used to determine the amount of federal funding each year. Green goes into a great deal more detail to make her case, urging that more records be released.

Opinions on unmarked graves are deeply entrenched, and a dispassionate exchange of opinions and facts is, to say the least, difficult. Many will reject what Green has to say, but the approach of people like her is light years away from the guys in their uniforms displaying their inflammatory banners.

Examining facts respectfully is the way this debate needs to be conducted, which is certainly not what happened Sunday.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.