Why experts say a white nationalist rally in London, Ont., this past weekend won’t be the last

An apparent white nationalist demonstration on a busy overpass near London in central Ontario on Sunday afternoon is causing concern among witnesses and experts tracking extremist behavior.

The scene was remembered by Londoner Dave Vermue, who was driving along Horton Street when he said he saw about 30 men standing at attention wearing masks and black flowers and waving flags on the Wortley Road overpass.

“I thought there were Boy Scouts on top of the bridge until I drove under it and saw what it was,” said Vermu, who captured the demonstration on his car's dash cam. “I immediately thought of stormtroopers from Nazi Germany.”

From this overpass, the group hung a banner reading “remigration now,” next to a Canadian red flag, an Ontario flag and a Nationalist white supremacist group Second Sons Canada, which claimed to have organized the meeting on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Vermu said he didn't need to understand the motto to know what was going on and that he wasn't happy with it.

“I'm completely dumbfounded by their method of protest,” he said. “They have every right to share their terrible views and be reprimanded for it, but to publicly display them in military uniform and present it as war propaganda. [is concerning]”

According to the RCMP, the Second Sons are led by Jeremy McKenzie, who also founded Diagolon, an “extremist militia-like organization.” Earlier this year he filmed himself salutes Hitler in a video published on Telegram.

The group is one of several “active clubs” investigated by CBC News – white nationalists who organize military training to prepare for what anti-hate researchers say is a belief in an imminent race war.

Bands like Second Sons are almost always hide their faces and revealing features such as tattoos, in some cases using Nazi symbols for this purpose.

According to Hazel Woodrow, the “remigration now” message brought to London, like many of the slogans used by these groups, is intended to appear less radical than it actually is. She is the education program manager for the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), which studies white nationalism in Canada.

Woodrow said it was also more subtle than the “mass deportations now” banners put up by Nationalist 13, a separate activist club that has held demonstrations and training. in London and St. Thomas this year.

“This is a buttoned-up version, a re-packaging of ethnic cleansing,” Woodrow said. “Forced expulsion of non-white people for groups such as the Second Sons or the Dominion Society of Canada.”

Woodrow and KAN believe that the Dominion Society is affiliated with the Second Sons, serving as the political wing of the group's network.

The London Police Service said it was aware of Sunday's protest and noted that the group was on the scene for approximately 30 minutes before leaving the area without incident.

Channel X reported that Second Sons had conducted combat training in the city ahead of the protest. CBC London identified the meeting location as Westminster Ponds.

The founder of the Dominion Society reposted X's post by Second Sons. The group promoted the concept of remigration, saying on its website that it was “the only way forward to save Canadians from becoming a minority.”

The group also calls for a suspension of all permanent immigration for at least ten years, which would make Canada “less hospitable” to immigrants, the revocation of permanent resident status, mass deportations and more.

Woodrow said the ideology has spread across southern Ontario and beyond in recent years and is gaining momentum.

“The idea that these white nationalist groups are significantly smaller than they appear to be online would have been absolutely true a couple of years ago,” Woodrow said.

“The organized white nationalist movement in Canada is the largest in modern history. Much of this movement is made up of the Second Sons of Canada, the Dominion Society, Diagolon, and the Active Club movement.”

Experts with spoke to CBC News in the past it has been said that the main driver of this growth is social networks, which make it easier for like-minded people to find each other.

Vermu said he hopes to never see anything like it again.

“This happens right after Memorial Day. [uncle] died in the air force over Normandy. My father's family lived in [Nazi-occupied Netherlands]”, he said.

“I don't want this message here. I don't want to see 30 of these people, or 40, or 60, or 100. I don't want to see them at all. Not in my area.”