One conference speaker, a founding member of the white nationalist group<\/a> Wolves of Vinland<\/a>, talked of an ongoing \u201cwar \u201d in society that is both cultural and physical. Another speaker said the M\u00e4nnerbund formations must be based on principles that are \u201cethnically exclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n The CAHN video reveals the gathering included individuals with longstanding ties to the neo-Nazi movement and members of white supremacist nationalist group Second Sons Canada, an example of an “active club” previously reported on by CBC News<\/a>. Active clubs are white supremacist groups that organize combat training, often in public parks and privately owned gyms.<\/p>\n \u201cI find it extremely alarming that there would be any extremist group or, you know, fascist fight club, showing up in Vancouver,\u201d city councillor Rebecca Bligh told CBC.<\/p>\n \u201cAny group [whose] foundational premise is violence against others based on race or \u2026 ethnicity is not welcome in Vancouver.”<\/p>\n Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said it was significant that Exiles was able to bring together so many different individuals and groups in a \u201cunique\u201d event that was heavy on philosophy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe white nationalist movement used to be very fragmented and had a lot of infighting,\u201d Balgord said. \u201cThe reason that we’ve been warning about the size and the threat of the white nationalist movement in Canada right now is because they have managed to sort of figure out a unified and coherent strategy. And they are successfully recruiting large numbers of people doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Decoding \u2018folkish\u2019-ness<\/p>\n Experts say Exiles of the Golden Age is an example of a \u201cfolkish\u201d group, a philosophy<\/a> that incorporates Germanic or Norse pagan traditions with white supremacist and neo-Nazi elements.<\/p>\n The \u201cExiles of the Golden Age\u201d name appears in a passage<\/a> from The Lightning and the Sun, a 1958 book by Savitri Devi, a notorious neo-Nazi writer<\/a> who espoused a cyclical view of history where humanity will once again enter a \u201cgolden age\u201d after going through a period of darkness and decay.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lightning and the Sun is dedicated to Adolf Hitler, whom Devi describes as \u201cthe Man against time\u201d and the \u201cgod-like Individual of our times.\u201d An advertisement for another conference organized by Exiles last year invited \u201call men against time.\u201d <\/p>\n The group\u2019s Telegram channel also features pictures of a pagan ceremony to mark the changing of the seasons that included swastikas.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you see a swastika in the middle of a picture, at that point, that’s Nazism,\u201d said Catherine Tebaldi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg who specializes in modern white supremacist movements. \u201cMany symbols have multiple meanings and different interpretations, but some of them just become very regimented, very fixed. And this is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n In a speech at the Vancouver event, a conference organizer identified by CAHN and verified by CBC as B.C.-based boxing coach Lane Pommer discussed \u201cIndo-European first principles.\u201d He said those principles are \u201cethnically exclusive, both biologically and spiritually.\u201d He also said \u201cwe need an ethnic religion.\u201d<\/p>\n Amarnath Amarasingam, an associate professor of religion at Queen\u2019s University in Kingston, Ont., and an expert in extremism, said \u201cfolkish\u201d groups like the Exiles see \u201ca fusion between their religious sense and their racial sense.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to CBC News, Vancouver\u2019s Scottish Cultural Centre, where the event was held, said it had been told the event was a \u201cbook release gathering.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not, and would not, knowingly rent our venue to any group or individual that promotes reprehensible ideologies like hate in any form, including white supremacist organizations,\u201d said Darryl Carracher, the centre\u2019s executive director.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the centre was reviewing its booking policies.<\/p>\n The event also featured a display of books and a talk from the owner of Imperium Press, which describes itself as an \u201cilliberal and folkish\u201d press. The company publishes a number of controversial, far-right texts, including owner Mike Maxwell\u2019s The Cultured Thug: A Guide to Radical Right-Wing Thought and a book by Martin Sellner, a prominent white nationalist activist from Austria.<\/p>\n Gym owners, trainers in attendance<\/p>\n In previous reporting on Second Sons and active clubs in Canada, CBC News spoke with gym owners whose facilities had been used by the groups for training. Those gym owners said they had no idea of the ideology espoused by the groups booking their spaces.<\/p>\n Researchers have long warned<\/a> about the \u201cinfiltration<\/a>\u201d of the martial arts community by neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among the attendees at the Exiles event, CAHN identified a number of gym owners, coaches and trainers who serve a diverse clientele, including children. CBC\u2019s visual investigations team used social media profiles, open source information and resources such as Darkside and OSINT Industries \u2014 searchable databases that include information pulled from the open web and past data breaches \u2014 to corroborate the findings.<\/p>\n Lane Pommer, who was an organizer and speaker at the event, was listed as a coach at Westshore Boxing Gym on Vancouver Island. Soon after CBC reached Pommer for comment, his profile was taken down from the gym\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Reached via text for comment, an owner of Westshore Boxing Gym said they weren’t aware of Pommer\u2019s background and that he is no longer part of the gym.<\/p>\n \u201cOur gym promotes an inclusive and respectful environment that welcomes people of all backgrounds who respect others and our code of conduct,\u201d said co-owner Alexandra Strickland.<\/p>\n Ron Pearce, who owns the martial arts club Foundry Combat Sports in Duncan, B.C., was also at the event. Pearce hung up on a CBC journalist after being asked about his attendance and didn’t respond to other requests for comment.<\/p>\n Another attendee was Karl Storness-Bliss, co-owner of strength training company Brokkr Strength Systems. He frequently trains out of Mission BJJ, a gym in Mission, B.C. that opened in 2023, where he used to be an assistant children\u2019s coach.<\/p>\n Storness-Bliss, identified using his distinctive tattoos, can also be seen in Instagram photos wearing a motorcycle helmet with the Nazi SS symbol on the back, and with a tattoo on his stomach of an SS Totenkopf (\u201cdeath\u2019s head\u201d) symbol.<\/p>\n Reached by phone, Storness-Bliss denied attending the event. But a comparison of photos taken at the Exiles event and those from his personal training confirms it, as he appears at the EOTGA conference with matching tattoos and the same shirt seen in social media photos.<\/p>\n Kieran Summersgill, the owner of Mission BJJ, said he’s “blown away” by the revelations about Storness-Bliss, who had told him he was attending a jiu-jitsu seminar in Vancouver.<\/p>\n “It’s crazy because my gym has so many diverse backgrounds \u2014 Indians, Filipinos… it definitely wouldn’t be a place for a white supremacist to hang out,” said Summersgill, adding Storness-Bliss hadn’t been coaching kids there for more than a year.<\/p>\n Summersgill said that he told Storness-Bliss to leave the gym.\u00a0<\/p>\n Karim Zidan, founder of Sports Politika, a media company that specializes in the relationship between politics and sports, said CBC’s findings show mixed martial arts have become \u201cthe common ground between all these entities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the real-world proof that mixed martial arts really does serve as this common denominator amongst these various groups,\u201d said Zidan. \u201cIt suggests something far more sinister, that this is deeper and more widespread than we may have initially considered.\u201d<\/p>\n After CBC News started reaching out to individuals spotted at the event, a post on the Exiles’ Telegram channel recommended attendees not respond to CBC\u2019s requests for comment. The group said in the post \u201cthere is absolutely nothing wrong with attending an event like this, or with the ideas discussed there.\u201d<\/p>\n The RCMP would not comment on the event or individual attendees \u201cto protect the integrity of our criminal investigations and preserve our ability to investigate \u2026 Safeguarding Canadians from ideologically motivated violent extremism remains a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We are at war,\u2019 says conference speaker<\/p>\n The Exiles conference featured attendees from several active clubs in Canada. At least three attendees wore the uniform of the recently formed Second Sons Canada, which pitches itself as a \u201cmen\u2019s nationalist club\u201d and prominently features white supremacists among its leadership. Second Sons Canada is run by Jeremy MacKenzie, the founder of Diagolon, who this year filmed himself making a Hitler salute in a video shared on Telegram.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis gathering is a kind of alliance-building exercise,\u201d said Amarasingam.<\/p>\n The conference was also a connecting point between Canadian groups and the international movement. The event was supposed to feature in-person speeches by two speakers: Swedish YouTuber Marcus Follin and the American Paul Waggener. Follin, who has been described as a white supremacist<\/a> by the Anti-Defamation League, said in a video posted online that upon arriving in Canada, he was detained and questioned by border authorities, before choosing to turn around.<\/p>\n The Canada Border Services Agency declined to comment on specific incidents at the border due to privacy legislation.<\/p>\n Waggener is co-founder of the pagan group Wolves of Vinland, which has been described as a hate group<\/a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center in the U.S. He elected not to attempt to enter Canada and also spoke virtually at the conference.<\/p>\n \u201cMake no mistake, we are at war,” Waggener said in his speech. “And the war is physical in many ways for some of us, but it’s also cultural and it’s a war for the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n Also present at the event were Robertson de Chazal and Josh Bruce, co-owners of the white supremacist clothing brand Vinland Battlewear, according to corporate documents.<\/p>\n De Chazal\u2019s name was part of a prominent hack of neo-Nazi websites<\/a> by the group Anonymous in 2012. In a photo supplied by CAHN, he is pictured wearing a shirt of the group Vinland Hammerskins, a neo-Nazi organization.<\/p>\n Many conference attendees were seen wearing Vinland Battlewear clothing. Numerous posts on the company\u2019s Telegram channel show neo-Nazi imagery, including one featuring a picture of an SS officer who worked at Auschwitz<\/a> lighting a Christmas tree with the caption, \u201cThe torch still burns. The days of everlasting light will come again.\u201d<\/p>\n De Chazal did not answer CBC\u2019s questions when reached by phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bruce did not respond to CBC\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Evan Balgord of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said the Exiles conference is more proof that white nationalism is on the rise in Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether you want to judge it by the number of supporters of the white nationalist movement, by their capacity for fundraising, or by the number of people who are signing up for their more militant groups, the white nationalist movement in Canada has never been larger.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789150_813_default.jpg\")
The Exiles of the Golden Age logo. In a post shared on the Exiles’ Telegram channel, the logo is described as symbolizing the ‘enduring light of tradition’ and victory. (Exiles of the Golden Age\/Telegram)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789150_906_default.jpg\")
A screenshot shows the dedication page for an edition of The Lightning and the Sun, a 1958 book by neo-Nazi writer Savitri Devi. (greek_volk\/Archive.org)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789151_66_default.jpg\")
An image of a swastika, used in what the Exiles group portrayed as a religious ceremony. (Exiles of the Golden Age\/Telegram)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789151_320_default.jpg\")
The Cultured Thug, with the cover page showing a man holding a shadowed firearm, is among the books published by Imperium Press, whose founder Mike Maxwell spoke at the conference virtually. (Mike Maxwell\/Amazon)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789151_112_default.jpg\")
A composite image shows Lane Pommer speaking at the Exiles of the Golden Age conference in Vancouver, left, and his recently deleted profile on the page of the Westshore Boxing Gym, right. (Exiles of the Golden Age\/YouTube\/Westshore Boxing Gym)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789151_31_default.jpg\")
A still image of Ron Pearce at the neo-Nazi event in Vancouver. Pearce owns the martial arts club Foundry Combat Sports. He hung up on CBC when reached by phone. (Canadian Anti-Hate Network)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789152_646_default.jpg\")
In a video obtained from the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Karl Storness-Bliss, middle, approaches the entrance to the Exiles of the Golden Age conference. (Canadian Anti-Hate Network)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789152_287_default.jpg\")
A composite image of social media photos shows Karl Storness-Bliss with a helmet bearing the Nazi SS symbol, left, and a stomach tattoo with the SS Totenkopf (‘death\u2019s head’) mask. (northmanspeedandsycle\/Instagram, brokkr.strength.systems\/Instagram)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789152_952_default.jpg\")
Footage shows an attendee wearing the Second Sons Canada uniform as he enters the Exiles conference. (Canadian Anti-Hate Network)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789153_649_default.jpg\")
A picture from the Vinland Battlewear Telegram channel shows a model wearing one of their T-shirts. The model has a tattoo of a ‘Sonnenrad’ on their left arm, a Norse symbol appropriated by the Nazis. (Vinland Battlewear\/Telegram)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762789153_676_default.jpg\")
A screenshot of the Vinland Battlewear Telegram channel shows a picture of an SS officer lighting a Christmas tree. (Vinland Battlewear\/Telegram)<\/p>\n