Indigenous · History Classes · Grades 10–13 · College · University

Recent History — The Fight Goes On

History Class · Level band: Grades 10–13 · College · University

English edition — the language editions of the history classes are outstanding and will follow the site’s translation pattern; none is fabricated here.

Recent History — The Fight Goes On

Status: Researched draft — cultural review pending

How to read this entry: Documented Fact = a published primary account, an official or tribal record, or published scholarship (sources named in the text). Tradition — the people's own account = Indigenous testimony and Indigenous-organisation statements, standing as a witness family in its own right under the publisher's triangulation method. Debated / Claim = a disputed point, carried with its positions and never settled by assertion. Where the sources disagree — on a number, a name, an outcome — both stand, flagged.

1. The Screenshot, and What Can and Cannot Be Verified from It

• Documented fact: the post that prompted this entry is a Facebook Reel from 4 Generations Creations, the Kamloops, B.C. business founded in 2013 by Ashley Michel, a Secwépemc woman and Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc band member (Manufactured in Canada business profile; Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Business & Economic Development newsletter). Its overlay text reads, as far as the screenshot carries it: "When our community meets hate and white supremacy with…" — the sentence finishes inside the video, and the caption is likewise cut off in the screenshot ("Meeting hate and white s…"). The full caption text could not be retrieved from public search for this entry, and no completion of that sentence is invented here.
• Documented fact: the captured frame shows roughly two dozen men standing in formation on a roadside in dry, open country — black clothing, white face coverings, black caps, black flags, a small patch on some backs that is not legible in the screenshot and is not named here. That presentation matches, point for point, the photographs published by news outlets of the event documented below (e.g., the photograph credited to @bmorinstories/Instagram, published by Idavox, 2026-10-15).
• The event itself does not rest on the screenshot. It is established independently — by the Nation's own statements, by police statements, and by national and local news reporting — and is written below from those sources. The Reel is the community's own telling of it: a Tk̓emlúps business, posting about its own community, on Secwépemcúl̓ecw.

2. The Event — Sunday, September 27, 2026

• Documented fact: on the morning of Sunday, September 27, 2026, a group of masked men gathered on Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc land near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The Kamloops RCMP's statement of September 28 records officers responding to a group dressed in black and wearing white masks near Chief Eli Larue Way on September 27 (Kamloops RCMP statement, via Castanet and the PBC source review, 2026-10-01).
• The count is carried as the sources carry it — a range, not a settled figure: an Indigenous witness who spoke to the Indigenous Insider newsletter counted approximately 23; Tk̓emlúps leadership reported roughly 30 (Kúkwpi7 Rosanne Casimir, via Canadian Press); Castanet's police reporting said "more than a dozen." The honest figure is about two dozen, counts varying by source.
• The name, as the sources name it — and no further: Kúkwpi7 Casimir said the individuals appear to be associated with Second Sons Canada (Castanet, 2026-09-27). Reports across outlets describe the men as "believed" or "appearing" to be associated with that group rather than citing a claim of responsibility, and Global News noted it had not independently confirmed the identities of the masked individuals or their affiliation (via GenZ NewZ summary of Global News reporting, 2026-09-29). Second Sons Canada is a men's nationalist group founded in 2024, which describes itself as focused on fitness, camaraderie and political activism (Castanet, 2026-09-27); extremism researchers place its uniformed public appearances inside the wider "active club" movement (Canadian Anti-Hate Network–adjacent commentary, October 2026). This entry names no individual participant; none was publicly identified in the sources consulted.
• Documented fact: hours later the group marched to the Pacific Way overpass over the Trans-Canada Highway and displayed a banner reading "Got Bones?" above the traffic (Castanet/Canadian Press; photograph posted to X, multiple outlets). The taunt was aimed at the Nation's 2021 announcement (§3).
• Documented fact: the men were asked to leave by security and refused to do so until the RCMP arrived (Options for Sexual Health statement, 2026-09-30, summarising the day's reporting; corroborated in commentary coverage). They then dispersed. No confrontation with community members is recorded in any source consulted.

3. Why That Ground, and Why That Week

• Documented fact: the Kamloops Indian Residential School operated on Tk̓emlúps land for most of a century (1923–1977 per Tourism Kamloops' tour listing; the site is the largest former residential school in B.C.). On May 27, 2021, Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc announced that ground-penetrating radar had identified more than 200 anomalies consistent with potential unmarked burials of children at the site — Le Estcwicwéy, "the missing." The site has not been excavated; the Nation's investigation is ongoing, and the question of any excavation rests with survivors and the Nation (Canadian Press, February 2026; Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc statement on process). This entry states the 2021 finding at exactly that evidence level, as the strand's Genocide Record schools entry does.
• Documented fact: the demonstration came three days before September 30, Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — the day set aside to honour the children who never came home, the survivors, and their families. Kúkwpi7 Casimir said the incident would not deter the community from gathering and honouring survivors and children ahead of that day (Canadian Press, 2026-09-28).
• The people's own account of what the banner was: Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc described the display for what it targeted — the search for the missing children. The First Nations Leadership Council (BC Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Summit, Union of BC Indian Chiefs), in its statement of September 29, 2026, called it "a stark demonstration of racialized hate," the banner "seemingly questioning the well documented existence of unmarked graves at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools" (FNLC statement, 2026-09-29). The Okanagan Nation Alliance called the march an act of hate, racism and residential school denialism (iNFOnews, via October 2026 analysis).

4. The Community's Answer

• The people's own account — Kúkwpi7 Rosanne Casimir, Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc: "White supremacy will not instill fear in generations of survivors and intergenerational survivors who have already carried fear for far too long." (Quoted in the FNHA-aligned statements of September 30, 2026.)
• Documented fact — the cleanse: on Tuesday, September 29, hundreds gathered at Chief Louis Crossing on the Yellowhead Highway — from where the former school can still be seen — "with drums and songs to 'cleanse the area'" in response to Sunday's demonstration (Castanet Kamloops, via Peace Brigades International–Canada, 2026-09-30). Drummers, singers, dancers, community members and allies took part (Castanet). Video of the gathering was posted by Secwépemc land defender Kanahus Freedom Manuel (Facebook, linked by PBI-Canada).
• The people's own account — the gathering's organisers, as reported by CFJC News: "Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc is home to Survivors, descendants and families profoundly affected by the residential school system. Our community has survived attempts to remove us from our lands, languages, families and cultures but we are still here. White supremacy, racism and hate have no place on Secwépemcúl'ecw."
• Documented fact — jurisdiction asserted, not just words: on October 2, 2026, the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Band Council unanimously passed a zero-tolerance resolution on hate-based conduct on the Nation's land. Acting Chief Nikki Fraser stated the formal policy upholds the Nation's jurisdiction while giving the RCMP more tools to remove people engaged in hate-based activities from the community (reported October 2026; the resolution's passing is confirmed in two independent accounts).
• Documented fact: the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events went ahead on September 30. The FNLC called on Prime Minister Mark Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby to join the events hosted by Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc that day (FNLC, 2026-09-29).

5. The Official Record

• Documented fact: Kamloops RCMP Supt. Jeff Pelley called the masks "a cowardly attempt to avoid accountability for actions and messages that are clearly intended to intimidate" (RCMP statement, September 28, 2026). Briefing Kamloops city council on September 29, he said of the men: "They were there to intimidate and incite fear and we take that very seriously," and that no arrests had been made because the investigation was "in its infancy" (via the Canada First briefing compilation of the council record). The investigation was opened under Kamloops RCMP file 26-32569 (reported by YAC News, October 2026).
• Documented fact: Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a statement Monday, September 28: "The cowardly act that took place at Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc yesterday is abhorrent. It has no place in this country" — and called it a "disgusting display of hate" (Canadian Press, 2026-09-28). B.C. Premier David Eby and B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson both condemned the gathering the same Sunday; Kamloops–Thompson–Cariboo MP Frank Caputo called the participants cowards who refused to show their faces; the City of Kamloops stated: "There is no place for hate in Secwepemcul'ecw" (Castanet/Canadian Press roundup, 2026-09-28).
• Legal scrutiny, at Debated / Claim level: lawyer and law professor Faisal Kutty argued publicly that the banner display is "precisely the kind of public communication that warrants scrutiny under Canada's hate-propaganda laws" (Criminal Code s. 319(2), wilful promotion of hatred), while noting that whether an offence is established "belongs to police, prosecutors and ultimately a court" (October 2026 commentary). Status as of this entry's research (October 27, 2026): the RCMP investigation stood open; no arrests or charges had been reported in any source consulted. That status is recorded as of that date and no later outcome is asserted.

6. What It Shows

Two documented patterns meet in this one Sunday morning, and the entry claims no more than the record carries:

• Organized hate is marching in formation, in daylight, on Indigenous land. The Kamloops appearance was not isolated: reporting ties the same uniformed presentation — white face coverings, black clothing, caps, flags, banner stunts — to appearances from Dartmouth to Sudbury to the Alberta foothills since the group's first public appearance in March 2025 (Canada First briefing compilation, October 2026), a banner over Highway 97 in Kelowna and anti-immigrant posters in the Okanagan the same season (iNFOnews), and — four weeks after Kamloops — a kindred active-club banner ("Loyalist Pioneers," a "Remigration" banner) on the steps of the B.C. Legislature in Victoria (October 2026 reporting). A UBC political scientist assessed the Kamloops appearance as most likely a recruitment drive (Terri Givens, to iNFOnews). A Second Sons spokesman, in a livestream after Kamloops, used the phrase "blood and soil nationalism" for what the group wants (reported in October 2026 extremism-watch commentary; carried here as reported speech, one source chain).
• The community's answer was older than the provocation, and it was not fear. Asked to leave, the masked men stayed until police came; the Nation answered with jurisdiction (a law of its own, passed within the week), with ceremony (drums and songs on the ground itself, hundreds strong), and with the day itself — September 30 kept, on schedule, in the open. The Reel that opened this entry is part of that answer: a Secwépemc business telling its own community's story in its own words — "When our community meets hate and white supremacy with…" — the completion standing in the video, where it belongs, in the community's keeping.
• Denialism is the present tense of the schools chapter. The banner's two words were aimed at the graves of children — at the one finding, from May 2021, that this strand's Genocide Record already carries at its exact evidence level. What marched onto Tk̓emlúps land in 2026 is the same refusal the record documents in print and online since 2021: that the children did not die, that the survivors are not to be believed. The fight over the history is not finished because the history is not past.

7. What This Chapter Is Not

This is one event, honestly scoped — a short chapter in the modern record, not the modern record itself. The fuller chapters the table of contents still owes stand ahead of it and are not summarised here: Suppression and Survival at Depth (chapter 16 — the ceremony bans, the code talkers), Removal, Relocation, Self-Determination (chapter 17), Repatriation and Reawakening (chapter 18), and the rest of The Present (chapter 19 — tribal museums, Indigenous archaeology, food sovereignty, land-back at the evidence level). This entry's pointers into those chapters are exactly that: pointers. When they are written, this event will stand inside them as one dated, sourced exhibit among many.

Not verified — recorded so the gaps stand in the open: (1) The Reel's full caption and the completion of its overlay sentence were not retrievable from public search and are not reconstructed. (2) No individual participant was publicly identified in any source consulted; none is named. (3) No arrest or charge after September 29, 2026 had been reported in sources consulted as of October 27, 2026. (4) The small back patch visible in the screenshot is not legible and is not identified. (5) The group's affiliation stands at the reporting's own level — "appearing to be associated with Second Sons Canada" — with Global News' non-confirmation carried in §2.

Companion class. The same autumn, fought in the statute book rather than on the ground, stands in the senior class Chewing Away at the Treaties — From the Indian Act to Today (the treaties, the Act of 1876, section 35, the courts, and the 2025–26 fast-tracking laws). The two classes are companions in the Modern Record (chapter 19, The Present): one shows the fight over the record of the schools; that one shows the fight over the laws themselves.

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