B.C. MMA coaches at secretive neo-Nazi event

Monday, November 10, 2025

Good morning. This is Sarah Berman.

CBC News has identified martial arts gym owners, coaches and trainers who attended a secretive neo-Nazi event in B.C. this summer. Video of the Vancouver meet-up reviewed by our visual investigations team suggests white supremacists in Canada are organizing around combat training and see themselves as "at war" with society. More on that below.

THE LATEST

The U.S. Senate took the first step toward ending the government shutdown last night. Still, flight cancellations and delays are worsening.
The COP30 climate summit is now underway in Belém, Brazil, where a new plan to protect tropical forests is taking shape. So far Canada hasn't signed on.
Actor Mike Smith, known for playing Bubbles in the Trailer Park Boys, is due in court today in Halifax. He's accused of sexual assault.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

MMA gym owners, coaches ID'd at secretive neo-Nazi event in B.C.

(Exiles of the Golden Age/YouTube/Westshore Boxing Gym)

Some of the country’s most prominent white supremacist groups gathered in Vancouver this summer for a secretive neo-Nazi conference that also included mixed martial arts gym owners, coaches and trainers.

What's happening: The CBC’s visual investigations team looked into a Vancouver event organized and attended by Canada's most prominent white supremacist organizations in July. Gym owners, coaches and trainers from across B.C. were there. Lane Pommer, seen above, was an organizer and speaker at the event, and was listed as a coach at Westshore Boxing Gym on Vancouver Island.

Why it matters: Researchers have long warned about the “infiltration” of the mixed martial arts community by neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements. Expert observers say MMA has become a common denominator among previously fractured white supremacist groups. CBC News identified a number of gym owners, coaches and trainers who serve a diverse clientele, including children.

Read more from our visual investigations team here

Barging into office, yelling from Conservative leadership 'sealed the deal' on defection: d'Entremont

(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont says the barging into his office and yelling from Conservative Party leadership "sealed the deal" on his choice to cross the floor of the House of Commons to the Liberals this week.

What's happening: After Politico reported d'Entremont was weighing crossing the floor last week, the MP says Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin "barged" into his office and yelled at him about "how much of a snake" he was. The Conservative Party has denied d'Entremont's allegations.

Why it matters: The floor crossing has sparked questions about chaos and discontent in the Conservative caucus — which were only amplified when Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux announced his intentions to resign from politics days later.

Read the full story and watch the interview here

BEHIND THE SCENES

Brazil’s climate credentials tested by search for oil off Amazon coast

(Jill English/CBC)

Jill English and Susan Ormiston, CBC News
➤ Oiapoque, Brazil

It's climate negotiation season again, and this time we're in the hot, humid Brazilian Amazon to report on countries' efforts to agree on solutions, survival tools and sources of finance for this intensifying global challenge.

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was clear at his Belém climate summit on Friday: "Brazil is not afraid to discuss energy transition." But down the river and offshore from the remote city of Oiapoque, his government has just granted state-owned oil company Petrobras a licence to explore for oil.

The small city in Amapa state is in one of the poorest regions of Brazil. But it’s dreaming of oil riches if Petrobras finds vast deposits of oil off its coast, where there could be up to 30 billion barrels under the ocean. Exploration started off Oiapoque as soon as the licence was granted at the end of last month.

Many of the people we spoke with in Oiapoque’s main streets say they have faith the government has done the proper assessments and look forward to the potential for prosperity. But a local Indigenous chief told us he is wary this will actually bring jobs to his people, or improve their communities — his trust already broken by what he says was a lack of consultation on the decision. He’s been pushing back, along with environmental groups and other Indigenous leaders in the state.

We’ll be watching as host country Brazil shepherds COP30 talks under the global spotlight.

Find out more here

The 'lion' filmed roaming the Irish countryside is a Newfoundland dog named Mouse

(An Garda Síochána Clare)

When John O’Reilly first saw the footage of a large animal with a puffy tail and a mane skulking into the forest on the southwest coast of Ireland, he was in disbelief. There are no known lions in the forests of Ireland. Nevertheless, O’Reilly couldn’t deny his own two eyes. He called the police, who found it was a Newfoundland dog with a fresh haircut.

Find out how the saga unfolded here

Today in History: Nov. 10

1969: The children's educational program Sesame Street makes its debut on National Educational Television (later PBS).

1975: The Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in a storm on Lake Superior after battling 7.5-metre waves and record 125 km/h winds, with the loss of 29 crewmen. The tragedy was commemorated in the song The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot.

1983: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announces the PC operating system Windows 1.0 at a media event in New York. It would go on to sell just 500,000 copies when it was released two years later.

(With files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters)

Thanks for reading!

Drop us a line any time. Send your feedback and comments to morningbrief@cbc.ca.

Check CBCNews.ca any time for the most recent headlines.

Got a news tip or story idea? Contact us.