Council of Canadians Condemns 2010 Games

http://www.canadians.org/olympics/statement.html

The Council of Canadians, one of Canada's largest public advocacy
organizations, with members and chapters across the country, views
positively the Olympic goal of friendly international competition
between athletes who excel in their respective sports. We understand and
appreciate the pleasure and enjoyment so many around the world share in
the spectacle and achievements of the Olympic Games.

However, we are gravely concerned by the increasing evidence that these
worthy aspects are being overwhelmed, if not totally supplanted, by an
"Olympic industry" focused on real estate development and massive
corporate marketing opportunities. An "Olympic industry" founded and
based in undemocratic and unaccountable national and international
structures, implicated in numerous corruption scandals that undermine
everything a truly noble Olympic movement should stand for.

In particular, the Council of Canadians believes the February 2010
Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler will leave a negative legacy
contrary to the goals set forward during the application and approval
process to host the games. There is now no doubt that the Vancouver
Organizing Committee (VANOC) and its affiliated partners will fail to
meet their commitments with regard to the environment, social programs
and fiscal accountability.

The Council of Canadians is committed to working with activists who are
highlighting the negative aspects of the 2010 Games, especially the fact
they are being held on un-ceded First Nations territories and are
providing mining, resort, real estate and energy developers with
opportunities to continue expansion of projects on indigenous
territories throughout the province.

As well, we are concerned that the civil liberties of local communities
and those who have a critique of the Games are being undermined by an
unnecessary security presence. The security budget for the games has
ballooned to $1 billion, while security and law enforcement agencies
have identified protest groups as the most significant threat to the
Games. Over 4,500 Canadian military troops will be deployed to the 2010
Vancouver Olympics - twice the number Canada has in Afghanistan.

Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart and the British Columbia
Civil Liberties Association have both raised serious concerns about the
threat to fundamental rights to privacy and protest arising from the
installation and introduction of new surveillance and security measures.
Almost a year before the start of the Games surveillance cameras are
being installed in Whistler and Vancouver and, according to several
credible reports, harassment of protesters has begun.

Residents of Whistler, site of the nordic and downhill venues, are
already living in what amounts to a "security zone," which is only
expected to escalate as the opening date approaches. Critics of the
Games, including a Council of Canadians board member, have allegedly
been placed under surveillance, while hikers and mountain bikers find
favourite wilderness trails blocked by mysterious military operations.

As with Beijing 2008, there are plans to suppress legitimate dissent,
including restricting demonstrators to areas far away from venues,
visitors and the media. The Council of Canadians is concerned for the
civil liberties of those who challenge the negative impacts of the
Olympics and asks: Will those who ignore such undemocratic limitations
be pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed and arrested? Will they be labeled
"terrorists" and face global travel bans for exercising their democratic
rights?"

As an organization focused on global justice we are especially concerned
that the 2010 Olympics are providing a prime "green-washing" opportunity
for corporations involved in the most egregious threats to the survival
of humanity and the earth through their active participation in the
privatization and commodification of water and massive environmental
degradation exemplified by the exploitation of the tar sands.

A Worldwide Olympic Partner, Coca Cola (also a sponsor of the Torch
Relay), is notorious for depleting groundwater in areas of India and
Latin America with scarce water resources. Furthermore, Coca Cola is a
leading promoter of water commodification as one of the largest
producers of bottled water in the world. The Council of Canadians is
actively promoting bottled water bans in communities across the country,
and has grave concerns about the impact of Coca Cola's sponsorship on
public water infrastructure support in Vancouver and Whistler.

EPCOR, an Official Supplier for the games, has been working to privatize
the water utilities of municipalities across the country, including BC.
Epcor tried to bid on the privatization of waste water treatment in
Whistler in 2006. The bid was successfully overturned as a result of
efforts by the Council of Canadians and community members in Whistler.
General Electric, another Worldwide Olympic Partner, is a major
financier of private power projects in BC, including the enormous Bute
Inlet proposal through its subsidiary Plutonic Power. The Council of
Canadians has taken a stand against private power projects in British
Columbia through the 'IPP' model.

The Royal Bank of Canada and Petro Canada, both National Partners for
the 2010 Games, are directly involved in the Alberta tar sands, one of
the most environmentally destructive projects in the world. The Royal
Bank is a major financier of tar sands projects and is also a sponsor of
the Torch Relay. Ironically, their ad campaigns for the relay ask
individuals to make a "green pledge" by volunteering to carry the torch.
The Council of Canadians is campaigning for no new approvals in the tar
sands and a halt to any development infrastructure designed to increase
the capacity of tar sands exploitation.

Dow Chemical is also an Olympic sponsor. Currently Dow is suing the
Government of Canada for $2 million, through NAFTA's Chapter 11
investor-state dispute process, as part of a challenge to a Quebec ban
on the use of lawn pesticides. Dow claims that the ban has amounted to
an unfair expropriation of Dow's Canadian pesticide business. The
Council of Canadians has long campaigned against NAFTA and Chapter 11's
harmful impact on public regulation.

At a time of economic crisis when federal, provincial and municipal
governments should focus on public projects that create a lasting
positive social and economic foundation the 2010 Games appear set to
leave a legacy of social and environmental destruction and massive debt
that will hobble our ability to make positive change and respond to the
serious challenges facing communities across the province and the
country.

Carleen Pickard
Director of Organizing/Council of Canadians
#700 - 170 Laurier Ave W Ottawa, ON K1P 5V5
t. 613.233.4487 x 223/1.800.387.7177
c. 613.301.8346