Native Warriors Take Olympic Flag

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NATIVE WARRIORS TAKE OLYMPIC FLAG

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 6, 2007, the large Olympic flag
that flew outside of Vancouver City Hall was stolen. A few days later, the
Native Warrior Society released a communiqu?claiming responsibility for the
theft in honour of elder Harriet Nahanee and against the 2010 Games.

Olympic flag stolen as IOC hits town
Globe and Mail, March 7, 2007

By Rod Mickleburgh

Someone, apparently with a beef against the Olympics, has robbed the city
of its most potent symbol of the coming 2010 Winter Games. While local
denizens slept, the huge Olympic flag flying at city hall for more than a
year was unceremoniously torn from its moorings and whisked away early
yesterday.

"The flag is of no intrinsic value to anyone. This was clearly a crime of
anger,"police spokesman Constable Tim Fanning said, appearing to rule out
university students on a prank mission or somebody seeking a unique souvenir
for a rec-room wall.

The lifting of the big white banner with its familiar five rings occurred
not long before a blue-ribbon committee from Olympic head-quarters in Europe
began a three-day inspection and review of the host city抯 state of
preparedness for the 2010 Winter games.

And it followed a raucous protest by anti-Olympic demonstrators last month
at the unveiling of a Games countdown clock in downtown Vancouver. Mayor
Sam Sullivan did not hesitate to blame individuals opposed to the Olympics
for making off with the flag. "I recognize and respect people's right to
free expression, but when it comes to vandalism and theft, it's really
crossing the line."

Constable Fanning said the Olympic flag was taken between 1 am and 6 am,
despite security personnel that patrol city hall and its surrounding grounds
around the clock. The miscreants pried open the lock of the flag-raising
mechanism, then slashed the cord, causing the heavy silk banner not so much
to fly as to plummet, causing extensive damage to the $6,000 flagpole, which
may have to be replaced.

Olympic flag stolen from Vancouver's city hall
CTV News/Canadian Press, March 6, 2007

A giant Olympic flag that fluttered in front of Vancouver's city hall was
stolen Tuesday morning just as officials from the International Olympic
Committee arrived to evaluate the city's preparation for the 2010 Winter
Games.

"Clearly we are disappointed and its unfortunate that the flag was
stolen," said Renee Smith-Valade, vice-president of communications for the
Vancouver Olympic organizing Committee. It's unclear if the act was a
simple theft or a protest against Vancouver hosting the Olympics or the IOC
visit.

"That's hard to say," said Smith-Valade. "It could have happened any time
really. Whoever did this represents either an individual or a very, very
small group that is not in any way representative of the huge support for
the Games."

Just last month a ceremony in downtown Vancouver to mark the three-year
anniversary of the Games was disrupted by protesters. An IOC spokesman said
via e-mail that the flag incident 'Goes against Olympic values." Michael
Chambers, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, called the theft
frustrating.

"It's frustrating to think that someone is so skewed in their view of all
the good things the Olympics are about, they would go and do something like
that which really, unfairly, scars the great history of the Olympics,"said
Chambers, who is attending the meetings as a member of VANOC's board of
directors.

The flag, with its distinctive five Olympic rings, is valued at $1,600.
Police say it was stolen sometime between 1:30 am and 6:30 am local time.
The thieves cut a cable which caused the flag to crash to the ground,
damaging the pole. The flag was then ripped off the pole. The flag was not
the one Mayor Sam Sullivan received last year during the closing ceremonies
of the Turin Winter Olympics. Still, the theft angered city officials.

"We are very disappointed by this act of vandalism and its theft of public
property," said city spokesman Jennifer Young. "There is no indication of
the motivation."

Last month protesters threw eggs and paint-filled balloons as VANOC
unveiled a huge clock to count down the days until the 2010 opening
ceremonies. One man scrambled on the stage and shouted obscenities into a
microphone before being dragged off by police.

Since then the clock has been guarded. Smith-Valade said there will also
be increased security around the city hall flags. "These are high-profile,
prominent emblems," she said. "There will be people that choose to steal or
do damage to them. It's just part of life you do have to protect these
high-profile emblems."

The IOC inspection team is holding three days of meetings in Vancouver.
One of the issues expected to be discussed is whether VANOC plans to house
extra officials and the international media at Whistler, site of skiing and
the sliding events.

Television cameras were permitted to photograph the opening remarks between
the IOC and VANOC officials, but reporters were not allowed. A VANOC
official later played a recording of the comments to reporters.

Vancouver Olympic flag stolen
CBC News, March 6, 2007

Vandals have stolen the huge Olympic flag that has been flying at Vancouver
City Hall the past year. Police say someone broke the lock on the flag pole
early Tuesday, cut the rope, brought the flag down to the ground and then
ripped it off the cable.

Just a small strip of cloth, about 10 centimeters by a metre, was left
behind. Const. Tim Fanning said investigators have no suspects, but they
believe there is more than one person involved because of the flag's size &
weight.

"The flag, as I understand it, can be very heavy when it's wet and will
take several people to be able to manage it." The missing flag measures
4.87 metres (16 feet) by 7.62 metres (25 feet).

Police expect private security is needed at the flag site now, much like
the measures that secure the Olympic clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
"Security measures will be changed & adjusted in light that this flag was
stolen,"Fanning said.

The Paralympic flag that flies nearby was not damaged. Fanning said the
pole, which cost $6,000, was damaged, and the hand-sewn flag will have to be
replaced at a cost of $1,600.

Protesters threaten to disrupt Olympic flag illumination
The Province, March 7, 2007

by Damian Inwood

A protest group that disrupted last month抯 unveiling of the Olympic
countdown clock is threatening to "Shut down" an Olympic-flag illuminating
ceremony at Vancouver city hall next week. Mayor Sam Sullivan lashed out at
the threats as being "Against the rules of civilized behaviour."

While the Anti-Poverty committee denied it stole the $1,600 Olympic flag
from outside city hall early yesterday, spokeswoman Mary Claremont said the
group wished it had. "In fact, this upcoming March 12, we will do whatever
it takes to shut down the city's Olympic event being held at city hall,"
said Claremont. The committee helped organize a rally at the Olympic-clock
un-veiling Feb. 12. Since then, round-the-clock security has been mounted
to protect the clock at Georgia and Hornby.

Sullivan and Olympic & government officials will turn on the lights to
illuminate city hall抯 Olympic & Paralympic flags at 6:30 pm on Monday.

"That is completely against the rules of civilized behaviour and that is
very irresponsible for them to talk in that way," fumed Sullivan after being
told of the APC protest plan. "We all pride ourselves on having a city
where we accept and support people's right to protest. When people take
advantage and cross the line with vandalism and destroying public property,
I think they hurt themselves."

City spokeswoman Jennifer Young said security will be there to deal with
any protesters next week. "The replacement flag is about $1,600, but there
was extensive damage to the flag pole and the faceplate to access the
halyard was ripped off," she said of the stolen flag.

Canadian Olympic Committee president Michael chambers was disappointed that
the flag was stolen. "It's frustrating to thank that someone is so skewed
in their view of all the good things the Olympics area bout that they would
go and do something like that," he said.

Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade said the
stolen flag is a replica and not the one brought back from the Turin
Olympics by Sullivan. She said the city will pay for the damage and the
flag will be replaced by next week.

Native warriors admit to flag theft
Vancouver: Society stole Olympic flag from city hall to 'honour'
protester Harriet Nahanee
The Province, March 9, 2007

By Suzanne Fournier

(Fournier gets some facts wrong, confusing the NWS with the West Coast
Warrior Society in August 2005 arrests, as well as mistaking protesters with
warrior flags as members of NWS)

The Native Warrior Society took credit yesterday for cutting down the
Olympic flag at Vancouver City Hall 'in Honour' of elder Harriet Nahanee.
Three figures wearing black balaclavas are shown in front of what appears to
be the flag that hung at city hall, in a photo and statement e-mailed from
揾unter killer?and signed by the society. They are holding a red Mohawk
flag and a photo of Nahanee, who they describe as 'Our elder-warrior who was
given a death sentence by the BC courts for her courageous stand in defence
of Mother Earth."

Nahanee, 71, died at St. Paul's Hospital on Feb. 24, a month after she was
sentenced to 14 days in jail for protesting against the destruction of the
Eagleridge Bluffs for an Olympic-related project, the expansion of the
Sea-to-Sky Highway.

Friends of Nahanee warned BC Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown when
Nahanee was sentenced on Jan. 24 that she was ill with flu and had severe
asthma.

Nahanee, who said in court that she considered the bluffs to be unceded
native land, served nine days at the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre, where lawyer
Lyn Crompton says she suffered 'racist' and rough treatment.

Nahanee's death provoked widespread outrage, from West Vancouver matrons
who protested with her to young native activists, some of whom wore combat
boots and camouflage gear while fighting tears at her funeral. The Native
warrior society statement says that early on Tuesday "We pried open the
access panel on the pole with a crowbar and, using a bolt-cutter, cut the
metal cable/halyard inside, causing the flag to fall to the ground."

"We stand in solidarity with all those fighting the destruction caused by
the 2010 Olympic Games," says the statement, concluding with the slogan "No
Olympics on stolen Native Land." Const. Tim Fanning said The photo and the
statement will be part of the ongoing investigation."

Members of the society were seen with black face paint and a similar Mohawk
flag at a recent melee with Vancouver police, leading to several arrests,
when the Olympic countdown clock was unveiled downtown.

In August 2005, two Native Warrior society leaders were arrested in
Vancouver in connection with a gun seizure. No Charges were laid and the
guns were found to have been legally obtained.

Tewanee Joseph, executive-director and CEO of the Four Host First Nations
Secretariat, said his group respects the individual's right to protest "But
to do it peacefully and respectfully is very important as well."

International Olympic Committee official Rene Fasel, in Vancouver for
meetings with Olympic organizers, said he was disappointed by the theft of
the flag. "It's totally illegal," he said.

Masked trio claims to have flag
Vancouver Sun, March 9, 2007

By Darah Hansen

Three masked men, all members of a group calling itself the Native Warrior
Society, have claimed responsibility for stealing the City of Vancouver's
Olympic flag. The flag disappeared early Tuesday morning from outside city
hall.

On Thursday afternoon, Vancouver police received a photo and letter signed
by the Native Warrior Society. The letter states the flag was stolen to
honour Harriet Nahanee, a Squamish Nation elder who died Feb. 24 of
previously undiagnosed lung cancer after serving nine days in a provincial
jail for breaching an injunction that prohibited protesters from interfering
with a Sea to Sky Highway route through Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver.

The letter details how thieves used a crowbar to pry open the access panel
on the flagpole and bolt cutters to slice through the metal cable used to
hoist the flag. The attached photo shows three masked men standing, fists
raised, in front of what appears to be the stolen flag.

"We stand in solidarity with all those fighting the destruction caused by
the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. No Olympics on stolen native land!"

Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said police are working to determine
whether the flag in the photo is real or a digitally altered image. Fanning
said police are aware of the Native Warrior Society, but he could provide no
information Thursday evening as to its members or what they represent.

Meanwhile, Rene Fasel, who chairs the IOC Vancouver coordination
commission, dismissed any IOC concern over the theft of the flag, saying
people have a right to protest.

"Canada is a free country. You cannot expect 100 per cent of people
supporting the Olympics,"h e said. "For sure, stealing a flag is not legal,
and we are sad and disappointed that it happened. It is a lack of respect."

Tewanee Joseph, executive director and CEO of the Four Host First Nations,
a group working with Vancouver 2010 organizers on behalf of the Lil'wat,
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, first nations, noted "There are many
views and there are many challenges."

We took Olympic flag, group says
Releases trophy photo by e-mail
Metro, March 9-11, 2007

By Jeff Hodson

A group, calling itself the Native Warrior Society, claimed responsibility
for the theft of the Olympic flag from Vancouver City Hall. A document,
e-mailed to Metro yesterday afternoon, contains a photo of three
people, their faces hidden by toques & balaclavas, standing in front of what
appears to be the Olympic flag that was stolen Tuesday morning from outside
City Hall.

Vancouver Const. Tim Fanning said investigators were aware of the e-mail
and were looking into it. The trio have their fists upraised. They are
holding a Mohawk flag and a picture of Eagleridge Bluffs protester Harriet
Nahanee, who died from pneumonia, complicated by lung cancer, on Feb. 24, at
St. Paul抯 Hospital.

Nahanee, 71, had spent 14 days in prison in January for criminal contempt
of court, protesting the construction of the Seat to Sky highway in West
Vancouver. Rene Fasel, chairman of the IOC co-ordination commission, said
"people have the right to object to the Games."

COMMUNIQUE

NATIVE WARRIOR SOCIETY

Native Warriors claim responsibility for taking Olympic flag

March 7, 2007

Coast Salish Territory [Vancouver, Canada]

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 6, 2007, we removed the Olympic
flag from its flag-pole at Vancouver City Hall. We pried open the access
panel on the pole with a crowbar and, using a bolt-cutter, cut the metal
cable/halyard inside, causing the flag to fall to the ground.

We claim this action in honour of Harriet Nahanee, our elder-warrior, who
was given a death sentence by the BC courts for her courageous stand in
defending Mother Earth.

We stand in solidarity with all those fighting against the destruction
caused by the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!

Native Warrior Society