Arthur Manuel: Vancouver Olympics can’t hide Canada’s dismal record on
indigenous peoples
 
By Arthur Manuel, Georgia Straight
 
http://www.straight.com/article-282036/vancouver/arthur-manuel-vancouver-olympics-cant-hide-canadas-dismal-record-indigenous-peoples
 
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will happen, and very little attention
has been given to Canada’s dismal human rights record on indigenous
peoples. This has to be contrasted with how Tibet human rights issues were
raised during the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. Canada decided to do its
torch relay inside Canada and used the Four Host First Nations to divide
and rule over indigenous peoples in Canada.
 
It is important not to pick on the Four Host First Nations, because it is
Canada that is the real culprit in this human rights travesty. The
economic initiatives accepted by the Four Host First Nations cannot
override the human rights of indigenous peoples. In fact, the preparatory
meeting for the 2008 session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues acknowledged Canada’s unprecedented involvement of
indigenous peoples in the 2010 Winter Olympics but also said this did not
absolve Canada from responsibility for its violations of the human rights
of indigenous peoples.
 
Views on the Olympics
 
Martha J. Lewis: Impact of Olympics on Vancouver tenants less than feared
 
Marc Lee: First the Olympic party, next the hangover in B.C.
 
Deborah Folka: Who knew women couldn't ski jump in the Winter Olympics?
 
Chris Shaw: Why resist the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver?
 
Am Johal: The 2010 Olympics have been an attack on civil society in Vancouver
 
Virginia Greene: 2010 Olympics will be biggest advertisement ever for B.C.
 
Ivan Doumenc: 2010 Winter Olympics will be Vancouver's demise
 
Marla Renn: Attempts to silence dissent won't stifle resistance to 2010
Olympics
 
Joyce Murray: The triumphs and challenges of the 2010 Olympics and
Paralympics
 
Philip Boyle and Kevin D. Haggerty: Olympic-size questions about
surveillance and privacy
 
Peter Julian: Corporate Olympics need to return to sporting roots
 
Some Canadians may argue that the human rights of indigenous peoples do
not have anything to do with an international sporting event. That is not
true. Canada, when applying for the Olympic Games, put its human rights
record on the table for intense scrutiny. That is why Canada and British
Columbia have gotten the Four Host First Nations to support the 2010
Winter Olympic Games.
 
Canada is deliberately trying to buy its way around its terrible human
rights record by creating a media spin behind the Four Host First Nations.
Canadians should be embarrassed that Canada has resorted to this kind of
cheap and shallow scheme, instead of addressing the substantive human
rights problems Canada has with indigenous peoples. Bluntly, this kind of
human rights trickery by Canada is similar in deception to an athlete
using drugs to win Olympic gold.
 
Indigenous peoples are not at the top of Canada and British Columbia’s
list of people who benefit from federal and provincial government
money-generating programs. Indigenous peoples collectively register at
level 47 on the UN Human Development Index. Canada always registers in the
top five. Indigenous peoples have systemically been impoverished by
federal and provincial policies that deliberately ignore judicially
recognized and constitutionally protected aboriginal and treaty rights.
 
On September 13, 2007, 143 state governments adopted the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada, United States,
New Zealand, and Australia were the only four countries to vote against
the declaration. In fact, Canada also voted against the declaration as a
member of the UN Human Rights Council on June 26, 2006.
 
Australia has reversed its position, and New Zealand and the United States
are reconsidering their positions. Canada is really out of step with other
countries globally when it comes to treatment of indigenous peoples.
 
It is clear that the poorest of the poor—namely indigenous peoples who
have been forced out of their Indian reserves from across Canada because
of lack of housing, education, employment, and recognition of their
aboriginal and treaty rights—will be the first impacted by the 2010 Winter
Olympics.
 
The indigenous peoples who gravitate to Hastings and Main streets, or Skid
Row, because of the economic marginalization and poverty of our people,
come from across Canada. They have already been impacted by being
dispossessed again of the affordable housing they had in order for their
places to be renovated and rented out to 2010 Winter Olympic visitors.
These people will not enjoy any of the benefits from the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games. They will just have to pay the price again for an
insensitive and callous federal government.
 
It is ironic that most countries that will be participating in the 2010
Winter Olympics adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. Canadians and indigenous peoples should make it very clear to
Canada and British Columbia that satisfying four local First Nations is
not good enough. If the spirit and intention of the 2010 Winter Olympics
is to become a real positive force, Canada must take this occasion to
announce that it will reconsider adopting the UN Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples.
 
Former Neskonlith chief Arthur Manuel is spokesperson for the Indigenous
Network on Economies and Trade.

Arthur Manuel, Georgia Straight