Pound Urged to Resign Over 'Savages' Comment

Updated Wed. Oct. 22 2008
CTV.ca News Staff

A growing number of voices are calling for the resignation of VANOC board member Dick Pound, following his reference to Canada being a country of "savages" only 400 years ago.

Pound, former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, was defending the decision to hold the 2010 Olympics in China, despite the country's questionable human rights record.

Pound said: "We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization."

Pound made the comments to the Montreal-based LaPresse newspaper earlier in the year. But they only sparked controversy recently when it emerged that a Quebec native rights group had complained to the International Olympic Committee about the remarks.

Pound is the former vice-president of the IOC.

On Tuesday, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell told the Globe and Mail that the remarks were "totally unacceptable" and that Pound should resign from his position on the VANOC board of directors.

"It's a disgraceful comment," Campbell told the Globe.

Native groups also rallied against Pound's remarks. In a statement on the website for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said Pound should quit his role as chancellor of McGill University.

"A man of Mr. Pound's stature and experience should have known better," Phillip said in the statement. "As a measure of genuine remorse and reconciliation, Mr. Pound must resign."

He said the group stands by calls from Ghislain Picard, chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, in initially calling for Pound to step down.

In a statement Friday, the AFNQL called on McGill to officially sanction Pound.

"Mr. Pound should himself understand the immense discourtesy of his remarks and offer to resign," Picard said in the statement.

"Contrary to the beliefs of Richard Pound, the First Nations of Quebec are descendant from great societies that have occupied the territory of Quebec for more than 5,000 years. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, America was inhabited by nations that lived in well-organized societies. We were not mere herds."

Pound has attempted to explain the comments by saying he was taken out of context, that he was in fact making a historical reference to "les sauvages" and that the controversy has been blown out of proportion.

Phillip said Pound's handling of the fallout from his comments shows an even greater lack of judgement.

"The UBCIC finds Mr. Pound's attempt to deflect the seriousness of his blatantly racist remarks as clumsy, insincere and completely unacceptable," he said.