With more than a full year before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics begin, the games have already encountered stiff opposition. A range of groups have expressed their disagreement with the way that the Olympics are being run on Canada's west coast. Their concerns include: environmental destruction, the rights of low or no income residents, lack of transparency and consultation in decision making, and development on indigenous land that has never been surrendered to Canada. Olympic sponsor Canadian Pacific Railway ran a promotional tour, known as the Spirit Train, across Canada which became a target for activists countrywide. One group went as far as to occupy the train tracks, thereby temporarily postponing the train while en route to its Toronto stop. The Real News spoke to Angela Sterritt who provided background information on the various reasons why the Olympics have created such a backlash. One of the major issues being raised by activists is the construction of Olympic venues on indigenous territory that has never been signed over to the Government of Canada via treaty or otherwise. The Real News also spoke to Leah George-Wilson, Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh nation, who is supporting the Olympics, to get her response to the points being raised by the protesters
This is the first I've heard of this and it definitely shines a whole new light on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics games, and indeed all Olympic games. We all the heard the horror stories of the Beijing 2008 games, but that was Communist China; this is happening in Canada.
If this rule of thumb were to be applied to other arenas, such as government supported theatre or art, film or sport, would Canada lose it's cultural identity? And if it did, so what? Don't human lives and our plant trump culture? Or at the very least, shouldn't they?
I'm stumped...
2 comments:
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Thank you
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