Photo Credit: Aaron Hemens via IndigiNews
On Sept. 27, three days before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a group of 20 to 30 people gathered at the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc reserve, displaying a controversial banner that drew widespread condemnation from politicians and the community. CBC News classified the individuals as white nationalists.
They were dressed in all-black clothing and white face coverings that bore the insignia of Second Sons Canada, a white supremacist group founded in 2024. Second Sons Canada presents itself as a fraternal club focused on physical training and patriotism, but leaked documents and livestreams have revealed neo-nazism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and calls for ethnic cleansing from members in the organization. It is actively monitored by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, a prominent watchdog organization, and has been investigated by the RCMP.
The group of men at the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc reserve hung a banner over an overpass, displaying the words “Got Bones?” The words are a direct reference to the discovery of approximately 200 Indigenous children’s graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, which was located on the reserve, in 2021.
According to Nina Krieger of the NDP, RCMP Supt. Jeff Pelley called the banner and the use of masks a “cowardly attempt to avoid accountability” for actions intended to “intimidate, provoke fear and division.” He asked that any recorded evidence be reported to the RCMP.
Many BC politicians, as well as the Thomson-Nicola Regional District and the Kamloops-Thompson School District, have issued statements that have condemned this event and called it an act of racism.
On Jul. 15, the BC Assembly of First Nations called on the federal government to criminalize residential school denialism as a hate crime. Residential school denialism is considered a dismissal or distortion of the experiences of survivors and their families.
“Our people are upset and they have every right to be upset. This is like a hate crime. This is disturbing especially coming just before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day,” said Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kúkwpi7 Rosanne Casimir in an interview with CFJC Today Kamloops.
The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Reservation, founded in 1862, was land where Indigenous peoples were confined to live after settlers occupied their lands without any formal treaties. Now, Indigenous peoples have the right to live, work, and own property anywhere in Canada. However, many Indigenous people still live on reserves.
In the past, Second Sons Canada has travelled to Canadian municipalities to insert themselves into local events. On May 31, 2024, members appeared at a drug overdose memorial in Ontario. They carried a two-meter cross and posted content blaming the opioid crisis on immigrants. In August 2025, around 50 of the group’s masked members marched through Queenston Heights Park in Ontario, posing with banners at the monument dedicated to Major-General Sir Isaac Brock and showing Canadian patriotism.