Stolen Games
"No Olympics on stolen Native land" has become the battle cry for
Indigenous resistance to the Vancouver Olympics
by Hillary Bain Lindsay / The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The official website of the 2010 Olympics touts the "historic" and
"unprecedented" participation of First Nations in the Vancouver
games. According to the site, the collaboration between the Vancouver
Olympic Committee (VANOC) and Aboriginals will include increased
opportunities to "showcase art, language, traditions, history and
culture" and "promote skills development and training related to the
games."
This kind of ”trinket and bead exchange” is beside the point, says
Kanahus Pellkey. "We're still fighting for our homeland."
"No Olympics on stolen Native land" has become the battle cry for
Indigenous resistance to the games; resistance that has found allies
in those angered by what they call the devastating social and
environmental implications of the Olympics, and has drawn its
resonance from the fact that much of BC remains unceded Indigenous
territory.
"Right now we're holding onto the very last of what we have," says
Pellkey, of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation. The Secwepemc's
traditional territory covers approximately 145,000 square kilometres
in the southern interior of BC. "Our land up there is mountains and
water," says Pellkey, on the phone from Vancouver. "There's an
abundance of wildlife and species. It's one of the last places in the
world where there's still clean mountain water."
To read more, click HERE
