Okanagan Nation Alliance blasts white nationalist group seen in Kamloops
Published 2:43 pm Tuesday, September 29, 2026
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The Syilx Okanagan Nation is standing with Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc after masked men associated with Second Sons Canada, a white nationalist group, gathered near the former Kamloops Residential School on Sunday, Sept. 27. The Syilx Okanagan Nation called the demonstration an act of hate, racism and residential school denialism.
In a statement released on Monday, Sept. 28 from Syilx Okanagan Nation Territory, the Okanagan Nation Alliance said Syilx and Secwépemc people are neighbours, relatives and longstanding allies, connected through family lineages, kinship and generations of relationships between communities.
“What happened at Tk̓emlúps is not something the Syilx Okanagan Nation views from a distance. It is personal to our Nation,” reads the release, which also states that many children were taken from their families and sent to Kamloops Indian Residential School, with survivors, children and grandchildren still carrying those experiences today through generational trauma.
“Our Nations are connected through our families, our histories and longstanding relationships between our peoples. Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc has stood alongside the Syilx Okanagan Nation, and today we stand firmly alongside them,” said y̓ilmixʷm Clarence Louie, Tribal Chair of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.
Louie believes this recent act of denialism by members of Second Sons Canada will not divide Nations or erase their history, and that they will continue to stand together as Indigenous people always have.
RCMP officers responded to the scene after receiving a report of a large group dressed in black clothing and white masks. According to police, the group dispersed upon RCMP arrival but continued moving through parts of Kamloops throughout the day, including members at an overpass showcasing a banner that read “got bones?”
For Syilx survivors and families, the denialism demonstration at the former Kamloops Residential School is very harmful.
While Second Sons Canada is not on Public Safety Canada’s currently listed terrorist entities, media reports from CBC earlier in 2026 revealed that Public Safety Canada found the growing white nationalist “active club” movement posed a risk for “extreme violence” in Canada.
Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Chief and Council said the group has been linked to white nationalist ideology and that the safety of members, survivors, families and staff is a priority. The Nation is also monitoring the situation as it unfolded just days before the annual Truth and Reconciliation Day on Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Chief and Council is also assessing security while working with RCMP.
Kamloops and Tk̓emlúps Rural RCMP Supt. Jeff Pelley said earlier this week that police are taking the matter seriously and are investigating. Pelley called the masked banner a “cowardly attempt to avoid accountability for actions and messages that are clearly intended to intimidate, provoke fear and division.”
This harmful act of intimidation continues to be felt across the Indigenous community.
Despite the act of denialism, y̓il̓mixʷm sil-teekin Chief Greg Gabriel, Syilx Child and Family Governance Representative, said survivors fought for generations to have the truth of what happened to them heard and believed.
“Our people were there. When that history is denied, it denies the lived experiences of Syilx survivors and the histories carried by their children, grandchildren and families,” explained Gabriel.
“Residential school denialism is not an abstract debate. It causes real harm to living people. Our survivors should not have to keep defending the truth of what happened to them. We will not allow their voices of our families’ histories to be erased.”
The Syilx Okanagan Nation called upon Syilx people, First Nations and people who stand with survivors and their families to come together during this time.
People are encouraged by the Syilx Okanagan Nation to attend the Walk for the Children and Truth and Reconciliation gatherings across communities.
“Stand with survivors. Stand with the families whose children were taken. Stand together against residential school denialism,” reads the release from the Okanagan Nation Alliance.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Tk̓emlúps Rural RCMP at 250-314-1800.
– with files from Lauren Collins