Michael Conlin (left) and Brian Caron, co-owners of the Nation Party Collective, wear a wildfire-relief shirt they created to support Okanagan Indian Band families affected by the Bradley Creek wildfire. Photo by kelsie marchand (kilawna)
When a wildfire moved through nk̓maplqs — the head of Okanagan Lake — earlier this month, the images that flooded social media were predictable: orange skies, flames, billowing smoke, and devastation.
But while the Bradley Creek fire’s destruction was real, many of the images circulating online were not.
Some were from other fires; several were entirely fake — generated by artificial intelligence.
“People are always trying to take advantage of tragedies that happen in our community,” says Michael Conlin, an Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) member who co-founded Nation Party Collective with Brian Caron.
“It’s like a slap in the face to the people that are actually going through this.”
Brian, who is Métis, agreed the AI-generated images circulating widely online felt exploitative — and completely detached from the reality of what was unfolding on the ground within OKIB.
“It kind of grossed me out,” says Brian.
“I understand we want to raise awareness, but do we really need somebody AI-generating a whole community that’s actually on fire?”
Since the fire quickly moved through the First Nation of nearly 2,600 residents, OKIB has been in recovery mode.
A formal damage assessment by Canada Task Force 1 found 245 structures damaged or destroyed.
As of August 26, the fire was still burning at 26 square kilometres in size, but classified as “under control,” with crews still working to extinguish and patrol the blaze.
OKIB Chief Dan Wilson said his community is “in the process of recovery” and that it’s “going to take a while,” he shared on the community’s social media.
As the community and its leaders depended on social media to share essential information, Michael and Brian had noticed the AI-generated images circulating online.
They knew they had to do something different — a design that accurately reflects the beauty and the ongoing strength of the syilx Okanagan people.
OKIB member Michael Conlin says Nation Party Collective’s fundraiser is one ‘small way we can give something back’ to his community after a devastating wildfire earlier this month. Photo by kelsie marchand (kilawna)
Collaboration rooted in community
Business partners Michael and Brian started their clothing company about a year-and-a-half ago.
Its name came from a street in “Prince George” where they used to record music: Nation Crescent. The company has grown quickly.
“We started off rapping,” Michael says.
“And then my partner went to graphic design school, and I was like, ‘Let’s just create a clothing company.'”
The pair had just returned from Back to Batoche Days, the largest outdoor Indigenous festival in “Canada,” held each July at the historic site of the 1885 Battle of Batoche in Saskatchewan.
The four-day celebration of Métis culture draws tens of thousands of visitors each year for fiddling, jigging, traditional foods, and live music.
“That was our big goal,” Brian says of attending the festival.
“We got there like three, four years ahead of schedule.”
They had just come from Batoche. Michael left right away to perform in Tkaronto (Toronto), and then the fire hit. His family evacuated while he was on-stage, across the continent.
Brian was back in the Okanagan, watching the smoke climb. Both wanted to help, but neither knew where to start.
“I have a newborn, I do graphic design, and I’m full-time in construction,” Brian says.
“The only way I could really help is something like this.”
‘If we don’t do it, somebody else will’
When Brian reached out to Michael, AI-generated wildfire images were already popping up across social media. Michael contacted his relative David Wilson, a syilx artist who is respected as a painter and Knowledge Keeper.
“This is a good moment to collaborate,” Brian recalls thinking, “and get something out there that’s going to help people.”
David was already immersed in multiple projects — including carving 13 canoes — and gave Brian access to his catalog of artwork.
Brian, a graphic designer, digitized elements from David’s paintings, including pictographs from a piece featuring the Spirit of the syilx, and adapted them for the shirt.
He added the syilx phrase “puti kʷu‿aláʔ — we are still here.”
“I wanted to do something with meaning,” Caron says. Sun Valley Source for Sports in “Vernon” offered to print and sell them the shirts at cost.
Cody Isaac, another member of OKIB and co-owner of North Okanagan Apparel, volunteered to produce stickers.
The growing collaboration began also working with OKIB leaders to ensure the campaign had OKIB’s blessing and support.
Thewildfire-relief shirt design — by syilx artist David Wilson, digitized and adapted by Brian Caron of Nation Party Collective — features the Spirit of the syilx, pictographs, and the syilx phrase ‘puti kʷu‿aláʔ — We are still here.’ Image courtesy Nation Party Collective
The shirt design features Wilson’s Spirit of the syilx figure, surrounded by pictographs, with the syilx territory in the background.
The phrase “OKIB Strong” sits alongside “puti kʷu‿aláʔ.”
“‘We are still here’ is how it’s been for our people for forever,” Michael says.
The partners hope to raise at least $10,000 from the campaign — all profits will go directly to OKIB families who lost their homes.
“We don’t want to make any money off of this,” Michael says.
“It’s the right thing to do, and a small way we can give something back.”
The fundraising campaign launched this week, and the shirts are available for purchase both for pick up at Sun Valley Source for Sports and online through the Nation Party Collective website.
“We already got so much interest; people are waiting for it,” Michael says, noting the company already got about 100 new followers on social media.
“We should be able to raise thousands of dollars.”
For Brian, the project is deeply personal.
The night the fire hit, his father opened the local Métis office and filled 16 air mattresses. Brian was there, blowing them up, and helping Elders who rely on breathing machines.
“Then I went home and I was just watching the plumes of smoke,” he says.
“I was waiting for somebody to tell me how I could help. This is what we can do.”
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