Chiefs Ponder Protests During 2010 Olympics

Native leaders won't rule out Olympic action

By Rod Mickleburgh, The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, September 2, 2009

With the 2010 Winter Olympics little more than five months away, B.C. native leaders are looking toward the Games as a way to highlight their increasingly rocky relationship with the provincial government.

Despite the unprecedented participation of aboriginal communities in the coming Games, leaders say they have not ruled out targeting the Olympics as an example of the continuing erosion of aboriginal title in the province.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said there was constant reference to the Olympics at last week's historic Assembly of Chiefs gathering, which strongly rejected government proposals aimed at recognizing aboriginal title in the province.

While stressing that it was premature "to know how it will all play out," Mr. Phillip said a native task force has been struck to consider "assertive strategies on the ground" to advance aboriginal rights.

"We need to decide where we go from here. There are scores of high-level, grandiose projects that are not accommodating the aboriginal title of our communities and tribal groups," he said.

"We can't sit idly by and watch this continual generation of wealth, while our communities sink deeper and deeper into poverty."

Using the Olympics as a sounding board, with media from around the world on hand, is just one of the options being looked at, according to Mr. Phillip. "[But] Canada is going to international forums, touting the treaty process, suggesting there is complete peace and harmony in B.C ... when, in fact, the new relationship is just about dead."

This is the first time mainstream native leaders in the province have mused about possibly taking some official action during the 2010 Winter Games.

Their past statements have generally been supportive of the Olympics, particularly with the strong involvement of the so-called Four Host First Nations (on whose traditional territory the Games will take place). Many continue to be pro-Olympics.

But the Games are also a good time to raise issues, Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit said on Wednesday.

"We have to boost the profile of aboriginal title. How we do that is not determined, but if you look at other Olympics, the international media come in and they see what's going on.

"They want to know about the state of affairs where the Games are going on. ... The Olympics was certainly one of the issues we talked about [last week]."

Even as they contemplated their own strategy, however, native representatives said they would steer clear of any activities resembling those planned by young aboriginal militants, grouped around the slogan "No Olympics on Stolen Land," who have vowed to disrupt the Games, rather than protest peacefully from the sidelines.

"It's hard to generate public support [for native issues], if you poke people in the eye with a stick," said Mr. Phillip.

"We are very mindful of the fragility of public opinion. Believe me, people are not huddled around tables thinking of how we can disrupt the Olympics."

Past actions by native protesters include theft of the Olympic flag at Vancouver City Hall and aligning with non-native activists to shout down several Olympic-related events.

Gord Hill, a native member of the Olympic Resistance Network, reiterated that the goal of the ORN is to disrupt the Games as much as possible.

"Absolutely. We can't let them hold their circus unopposed. We are a group that's determined and effective," Mr. Hill said on Wednesday.

"Besides, look at all the disruptions that are being caused by the Olympics themselves. All the road closures and security measures. They will be far more disruptive than we will be."

He labelled pro-Olympic native leaders, including those of the Four Host First Nations, as collaborators who have been bought off.

But Mr. John said the Olympic movement was a good thing, because it brings young people, including aboriginals, into sport.

"The leaders of the Four Host First Nations will all tell you of their frustrations, too, but they will also tell you about hope [that has come to them because of the Olympics]."