EDITORIAL – Performance by masked group of ‘supremacists’ was a failure
Image that appeared on social media on Sunday.
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.
The problem is, when we condemn groups like this as horrible and abhorrent, their mentally ill mindset turns that into attention seeking motivation.
If you don’t see racism as a bad thing, then being called a racist by others outside your group, is a good thing as it draws you closer to your group, which in turn self reinforces your sense of belonging.
I know that sounds bizarre but that’s the reality … they are that unglued.
The best response to groups like this showing up, is no reporting at all, but I know that’s impossible given today’s state of 24 hour ‘news is news’ cycle.
All that’s left to say about them is that they are in the end nothing but cowards, as they mask up publicly.
If your belief does not withstand the light of identity, because obviously many of them would lose jobs and societal connections if they were openly identified, then what you are is a craven, poltroon, miscreant … coward.
That is all.
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it’s a hate crime in canada, why are they not arrested????!!
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Exactly what did they do to that would warrant an arrest of these individuals?
I can assure you, RCMP would have made arrests.In Canada a person or people must be suspected of a particular crime, and may only be detained and/or identified and/or arrested on that basis.In Canada, police are not allowed to demand ID except for very specific circumstances. This situation met none of those.Until that Private Membership Bill making gets passed in HOC which would criminalize as hate speech condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying residential schools, (which has yet to be done) what can they be arrested on?
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This was abhorrent. But I think we all need to consider that when people are avoiding speaking truthfully, frankly and with objectivity, people and groups like this will rise up to fill that void. We are doing no favours to ourselves when we are avoiding speaking openly and freely, especially about our most difficult topics. If we can’t have open discussions to better understand each other and our different perspectives, people like this will show up and start their own narrative. It’s like we forgot how to disagree respectfully but still have those conversations, so now we just shouldn’t talk about the hard things anymore. And now we have Diagalon idiots like these to contend with.
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Sad pathetic reality is these idiots know how to play within the limits of the Law.Worst case scenario this group gave up the Identifications but legally allowed to move on as a group.That is reality of it.This group knows the Laws inside out, and knows how to play within them .
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