(CW: Transphobia and racism) White supremacist groups using pedophilia conspiracies to grow support, warns Hamilton researcher

WARNING: This story contains distressing content.

White supremacist groups are using issues of wider interest and disinformation to grow support — and that should be worrying, says a McMaster University professor in the wake of another demonstration by Hamilton-based group Nationalist-13.

Understanding how these groups are recruiting should also inform how elected officials, police and others combat hate, Ameil Joseph, a McMaster University social work associate professor, said in an interview this week.

On Sunday, neo-Nazi group Nationalist-13 gathered in front of city hall dressed all in black, wearing masks and performing a Nazi salute, according to pictures viewed by CBC Hamilton.

Members of the group were also seen in pictures holding a banner that said “no mercy for pedo scum.”

Joseph said messaging like this is used by similar groups all over Canada and the U.S. to purposefully and opportunistically gain support from the public by denouncing things like pedophilia.

“We should all be against pedophilia, that's fine, right? Yes, and also not like this, not in the way that's tied to hate and tied to white supremacist groups,” he told CBC Hamilton.

Joseph said these hate demonstrations can’t be looked at as one-offs, but rather as a growing, organized movement that institutions need to be worried about.

Nationalist-13, also known as NS13, is a group known as a fight club, also called an active club within white nationalist circles.

As reported by CBC, active clubs are part of a white supremacist and neo-Nazi network that has grown globally in recent years, increasingly moving from online forums to real-world training groups and anti-immigration protests.

Active clubs were also found to be training in Hamilton parks. These training sessions are also part of the groups' recruitment and propaganda.

“When [these groups] go untouched, it sends a message that they can continue as they are,” said Joseph.

On Nov. 9, 2024, at least 10 masked demonstrators from NS13 stood outside Jackson Square in Hamilton holding a banner advocating "mass deportation."

Around one year later in late November, 2025, the same group gathered on Main Street East and John Street South on a Saturday, holding a banner with a hateful message.

“Those things are connected,” said Joseph, adding that NS13 will often tie itself to other public discourses like mass deportations in the U.S. in the case of the Jackson Square gathering. This week, the group posted a comment on social media on Monday, following their Sunday demonstration, that mentioned the Epstein files. It has also posted about anti-Semitic conspiracies and anti-immigrant views.