The Olympic Torch Should Be Put Out

By Arthur Manuel

RE: Olympic Torch in Kahnawake, Quebec [URGENT]

Canada is using the Olympic Torch Relay to hide their terrible human rights record in regard to Indigenous Peoples here in Canada and Internationally.

Canada voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples on June 26, 2006 at the Human Rights Council and in September 13, 2007 before the United Nations General Assembly.

143 State Governments voted in favour of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada in this regard is offensive to Indigenous Peoples internationally. They are using money and the Olympic games to hide their position that Canada has fundamental human rights problems with Indigenous Peoples, here in Canada and internationally.

Canada cannot fool us by using money and good public relations to buy their way around their terrible human rights record. Our grassroots do not benefit from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. We have members, like other nations, who are forced to live on the skids in Vancouver because their rights back home are not recognized, and because they have no home, no job or no education...and the Winter Olympic Games will force them to be arrested and hidden when the international sports community comes to Vancouver.

Indigenous Peoples who have been dispossessed will be the first in line to shoulder the burden so only a few businesses will make money from the Games. We believe in the rights and ownership of our traditional territories. Canada does not. We stand behind our people both weak and strong. We feel that the spirit and the intent of the Olympic games is not fulfilled when carried through our Indian Reserves. It should in fact be put out and only be lit when Canada recognizes that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted and forms the minimum standard of laws and policies regarding Indigenous Peoples.

Canada, when it accepted the 2010 Winter Olympics put their human rights record on the table, just like an athlete has to take drug tests to see if they are on drugs, countries put their human rights record on the table to ensure that they are not violating the human rights of their peoples, because the Olympic Games stand for higher standards than national greed and selfishness. Canada fails this test.

The United Nations Human Development Index places Canada at level one or at least at the top 5 state governments, yet our position is at level 47 and below. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, yet we are collectively the poorest. This is because Canada does not recognize our Aboriginal and Treaty Rights. Canada's economy continues to thrive off the Colonial Doctrines of Discovery. That is why Canada will not adopt the Declaration, because the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the first major international declaration to repudiate the Colonial Doctrines of Discovery and recognize Indigenous Rights as Human Rights.

We must be honest. The Olympic Torch is supposed to be a beacon of hope but only if the state government makes it a beacon of hope. Canada has not done that. The Olympic Torch under the hands of the Canadian government is casting a dark shadow on the Human Right of Indigenous Peoples. We ask that all Indigenous Peoples not take refuge in this light that only brings
prosperity to a few. We must insist that we will not take light from the Olympic Torch until Canada becomes a strong, capable, mature country that recognizes and implements the rights of us Indigenous Peoples.

If this kind of fundamental change in Canada's Human Rights record can be done before the Olympic Torch gets to Vancouver, the Olympic Torch and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games would have done the work that it is supposed to do. The Olympic Torch would then be a beacon of hope, right now, though with the stance of the Canadian government, the 2010 Winter Olympic Torch casts a very dark shadow and hides Canada's terrible Human Rights record with Indigenous Peoples. The poor on the skids of Vancouver are evidence of this tragedy.