Nothing more un-Canadian than racist Second Sons
HALIFAX—Who would have thought that a hate-driven, white supremacist movement would spring up in Canada?
In a country that is famously colour-blind, a place known for celebrating differences rather than trashing them, the rule here has always been inclusion. There is no doubt Canada is the better for it, and that our national mosaic is a model for the world.
So it is surprising and alarming that Second Sons Canada (SSC) has made an appearance in Alberta. It is one thing for the province to have a separatist movement. It is quite another to have a group like SSC. As reported by CBC News last week, the group that began in 2024 now has chapters across Canada.
Why should anyone care? For starters, Second Sons isn’t particular about who joins its movement. The SSC has reportedly welcomed neo-Nazis into the fold. It has also adopted policies that would make any fascist proud and horrify any democrat.
Some background: Canada is a country known for its immigration policies. There is no cookie-cutter Canadian when it comes to the people who have chosen to come here. With a solid beginning of both French and English migrations, Canada now draws on every nation in the world to build its population.
After the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, Canada took in a large number of Vietnamese “boat people.” Some reports place the number at over 100,000. It has been a huge success for both those who emigrated, and the country that received them.
Canada also issued 5,000 temporary resident permits to people fleeing war-torn Gaza.
Our history on this subject is one of compassion and caring. When humanity is in trouble, Canada’s doors open wider.
The Second Sons want to follow a very different path. It couldn’t be more un-Canadian. The SSC advocates for the mass deportation of non-white people from Canada—at gunpoint if necessary.
And the politicians whom the SSC blames for Canada’s alleged immigration problem? The SSC suggests a harsher penalty: execution.
The SSC also carries out military exercises, like the one in early July in Alberta, where participants wore masks. Are they preparing for politics or violence?
SSC founder Jeremy MacKenzie is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He describes the group as a “men’s nationalist club.” As euphemisms go, that is epical.
According to the CBC, small communities have rented their community centres for SSC meetings without knowing what the group actually stands for. Their motto says it all: “Our people, our home, our future.” No wonder they describe themselves as “old stock” enforcers.
It should be noted that the SSC, at least for now, is very much a fringe group. They have managed to operate in Alberta largely by concealing who they really are and what they really stand for.
The group seems to grasp that if Canadians knew the real SSC, they couldn’t reject them fast enough. But that certainly doesn’t mean scoffing at the SSC as harmless.
No society, including ours, can ignore any militant, organized group that espouses racist ideology. That said, the question of what to do about organizations like the SSC is complex.
The most obvious response to hate-mongering extremists is to ban them. There is clearly a benefit to sending the clear message to such groups that they won’t be tolerated.
But any free and democratic society that bans ideas different from the mainstream also risks compromising its own beliefs. There are, of course, exceptions.
Banning slavery was morally essential, despite the horrendous consequences of the United States Civil War. But in almost every other case, there is a better path than silencing an individual or a group with extreme views. Don’t ban; instead educate and persuade. Don’t silence, but outsmart.
The facts make that task relatively easy in this country. Immigrants are the core driver of Canada’s growth—economically and socially.
They represent 36 per cent of workers in food services; 38 per cent in transportation and warehousing; 34 per cent in professional and technical services; and 20 per cent in construction.
They also make up 21 per cent of independent artists, with more than 100,000 working in the cultural sector; and they operate 2,000 self-employed businesses dealing with the arts. So, are they detracting from Canadian society, or building it?
Immigrants are also a backbone of Canadian agriculture, with more than 60,000 working in that sector.
Despite these overwhelmingly positive contributions, immigrants find themselves increasingly under attack.
Part of that is simply the times. Whether it's affordability, inflation, housing, youth unemployment, or interest rates, almost everywhere you look these days, it is getting tougher to get along. How tough is it? Since 2000, the dollar has lost 50 per cent of its value.
It is getting harder to buy a house or car, harder to send the kids to university, harder to put food on the table. In times like these, a lot of people look for something or someone to blame.
Sadly, the person who gets blamed is often the “other”—the one who doesn’t look like you, who doesn’t speak like you, or eat the same food. The feeling is that these “other” people are somehow taking something away from the rest of us.
And it is at such moments when immigrants to this country are at the greatest risk. They are easy scapegoats because they are new to Canada and come from places few Canadians know or understand.
Rather than vilifying immigrants, we ought to celebrate them. They have made a marvellous contribution to Canada in the past.
More importantly, they will continue to do so in the future.
Michael Harris is an award-winning author and journalist.
The Hill Times