On Sunday a group of White Supremacists staged an event on the Tk'emplups te Secwepemc Reserve near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. They were dressed in black with face masks as is the custom with so many of these hatemongers whose swagger doesn't extend to being identified by others.
They are part of the denialist movement downplaying the grim realities of the Residential School system in Canada. These institutions, run by the Canadian government and several Christian denominations, including the United Church of Canada, were intended to erase Indigenous language and culture for the children who were incarcerated in them. The children were removed from their communities as early as age six and tens of thousands were abused physically and sexually by the staff of the institutions, including priests and nuns and pastors.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada documented thousands of deaths amongst these children, most from untreated diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia. Often families weren't informed of the deaths and some have spent decades searching for information and the gravesites of their loved ones. This information is ignored by the denialists and it's likely that the majority have never bothered to read any portion of the final report from the commission.
The denialists claim that efforts to find burial sites are bogus and while the cowardly supremacists of the weekend were newsworthy there are plenty of "respectable" Canadians who share their views, ignoring the bleak statistics regarding deaths taken from the records of the residential schools. On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation we are reminded to acknowledge truth as a step before reconciliation.
There is a section in the final Truth and Reconciliation Report with the title Canada’s Residential Schools: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials. You might read it or a portion of it as a way of honouring those who died and those who loved them. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/trc/IR4-9-4-2015-eng.pdf
As Canadians, as Christians, and specifically as United Church Members we must be vigilant in supporting those who still seek Truth and Reconciliation. Here is a link to United Church resources: https://united-church.ca/social-action/justice-initiatives/reconciliation-and-indigenous-justice/prayer-action-and-community
A screenshot from a video showing a group white nationalists, “appearing to be associated with Second Sons Canada,” according to one report, gathered near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (IMAGE VIA BRANDI MORIN)
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