Here is coverage of AW@L's press conference after November 2nd's City Council meeting in Kitchener.

Video from CTV: http://southwesternontario.ctv.ca/news.php?id=6127

Activists will protest when Olympic torch comes to town

therecord.com
By Terry Pender, Record staff

KITCHENER — Local activists say the organizers of the Vancouver Olympics are suppressing freedom of expression by attempting to ban “propaganda” from being displayed or distributed along the routes of the Olympic Torch Relay.

Adam Lewis of the group Anti-War @ Laurier and Davin Charney, a local lawyer specializing in civil liberties and human rights, appeared before city council Monday, saying the city must actively ensure their right to peaceful protest.

“When the torch is hosted in our City of Kitchener there will be a public demonstration of this opposition,” Lewis said in his presentation to city council.

The Olympic Torch Relay is scheduled to pass through Kitchener on Dec. 27.

“This will be a peaceful protest, however the tone of this gathering depends entirely on the degree of oppression exhibited by the City of Kitchener,” Lewis said.

Anti-War @ Laurier is protesting against the Games for several reasons — the escalating costs divert scarce public funds from social programs, First Nations in the Vancouver area feel their land claims are being trampled and preparations for the games have damaged environmentally sensitive landscapes.

In a July 7 letter to the anti-war group, the City of Kitchener said: “While we respect the right to freedom of expression, we hope that Kitchener’s torch relay celebrations will be about sport, peace and the Olympic ideal.”

Saying that response was grossly inadequate, Lewis appeared before city council last night seeking stronger assurances that Anti-War @ Laurier will be allowed to peacefully protest and hand out literature on city property when the torch passes through here.

“There have not been adequate assurances that freedom of expression will be protected along the route of the torch as opposition arises,” Lewis said.

Mayor Carl Zehr said the city supports freedom of expression.

“I will publicly make a statement to you today that we will not take any steps from my office or from this council or from this city to restrict freedom of expression — period, end of story. We will simply not do that,” Zehr said.

About a dozen members of Anti-War @ Laurier attended the council meeting.

“I would expect any protest to be peaceful, as you say it will be, and that will be respected,” Zehr said. “Beyond that it is out of the city’s hands. Should it go beyond that there are other authorities that will come into play.”

In his presentation to city council, Charney said the activists hope the torch relay through the city will be an event that allows everybody to express what they feel the Olympics are about.

Specifically, Charney asked city council to reject the guidelines issued by the Vancouver Olympics Organizing Committee that ban the display or distribution of what it calls “propaganda” during the torch relay.

“I understand what you are saying,” Zehr said. “We will take a look at it again and we will respond back to you.”

Zehr said city councilors need additional information before responding.

“We have an agreement with (the Vancouver Olympics Organizing Committee) and I have to understand what the implications are related to the point that you ask,” Zehr said.

Coun. John Gazzola said he didn’t understand what the activists wanted. Freedom of expression is guaranteed for everyone, Gazzola said.

“We have no jurisdiction over freedom of expression,” Gazzola said.

“The mayor has publicly assured you in front of a TV audience that you will be allowed your full freedom of expression,” Gazzola said.

But Charney said the city has jurisdiction because many events will take place on city property.

“So if direction is to be given to enforcement officials I expect it will be done by the city or this committee that is in part connected with the city,’ Charney said.

“I certainly would argue the city is responsible in part to protect people’s freedom of expression, and I guess I find it troubling that there can be a vague reassurance that the city will follow the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms), but not a specific guarantee that I will be able to hand out flyers at Olympic related events or have a sign,” Charney said.

“I hope you would be, personally I hope you would be able to do that, but I can’t speak on behalf of the city this evening given the documents you are referring to,” Zehr said in reference to the guidelines from the Olympic organizing committee.

tpender@therecord.com
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Callout and Press Release

Come support the right to free speech!
Come support Indigenous rights in Canada!
Come support AW@L’s fight against the 2010 Olympics Celebration in Kitchener-Waterloo!

WHEN: This Monday, November 2, 7pm.
WHERE: Kitchener City Hall
WHAT: AW@L will be addressing Kitchener City Council during the first meeting of the month, followed by a Press Conference in front of City Hall featuring local law professionals as well as representatives from AW@L.
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City must ensure right to protest during Olympic Torch Relay Celebration, say local activists and law professionals

Press Release, November 2
Civil liberties in jeopardy: City has refused to guarantee free speech during Olympic Torch celebration say local legal professionals; local activists pledge resistance.

KITCHENER—Prior to Monday’s press conference, representatives from AW@L and local legal professionals will be addressing Council at their November 2 meeting regarding concerns about repression of civil liberties at the Olympic Torch Relay Celebration in December, raised initially by the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) in June.

Inside the council meeting, a scheduled speaker from the legal community will express concern that the City of Kitchener has failed to guarantee that they will not suppress freedom of expression during the Olympic Torch Relay’s pass through KW and at the Olympic Celebration in Kitchener on December 27. Legal professionals will point to the City’s response to a letter from the BCCLA regarding “the public’s right to freedom of expression,” that expressed “concern that some of [VANOC’s] guidelines invite municipalities to engage in unconstitutional and illegal conduct.”

“Instead of guaranteeing the basic rights of the public,” says Leah Henderson, a local legal professional, “the City of Kitchener has apparently chosen to legitimize VANOC’s attempts to stifle free speech and criminalize constitutionally protected forms of protest.” Henderson is referring to a letter dated July 7, sent in response to the BCCLA from the City’s Assistant Solicitor, Jennifer Sheryer, which stated that “the City acknowledges that the Olympic Torch Relay is a high-profile event, and as such may attract organizations and individuals who wish to draw attention to other matters.”

The statement from the City, which goes on to say that “while we respect the right to freedom of expression, we hope that Kitchener’s Torch Relay celebrations will be about sport, peace and Olympic ideal,” is very worrisome according to local activists and legal professionals including Henderson, who says that “it is of serious concern that the city seems to be putting the unreasonable corporate interests of VANOC and the Torch Relay sponsors ahead of the democratic rights of the citizens of Kitchener.”

Local lawyer, Davin Charney, will present to City Council his concerns that the torch route and the downtown area will be turned into a "protest-free zone" during the relay. He will state his intention to be part of the protests and he will seek Council's assurance that peaceful and legal expression will not be criminalized.

In September, AW@L, a local activist group sent their own letter to Mayor Carl Zehr and each member of City Council, as well as copies to local newspapers. In an attached public statement by AW@L, the group promised that they would “resist” the Torch Relay if it passed through Kitchener-Waterloo.

AW@L representative Adam Lewis, also addressing City Council today, has clarified the position: “If VANOC and their corporate sponsors RBC and Coca Cola—two of today’s leading social and environmental corporate villains—are going to bring the Olympic circus to our community as a celebration of the so-called Olympic ideal, then we intend to be there to reveal their party for what it really is—a celebration of colonialism, elitism and excess, that has caused immeasurable social harm to the City of Vancouver and incalculable environmental destruction to the unceded Indigenous territories of the Coast Salish Peoples along the Vancouver-Whistler corridor in British Columbia.”

At Monday’s City Council meeting, an AW@L representative, in addition to reading AW@L’s statement against the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay—which makes connections between the gentrification, environmental destruction and contemporary colonialism taking place in Vancouver for the Olympics, with similar circumstances in our own region—will be demanding to know whether or not the City of Kitchener intends to guarantee that the constitutional right to protest will be respected during the City’s Olympic Torch Celebration on public property on December 27.

At the press conference, as well as in the City Council meeting, AW@L representatives will reaffirm their intention to protest the Torch Relay when in comes into KW. “Regardless of whether or not the City plans to guarantee us that our democratic rights will be protected in the face of corporate pressure from VANOC and the Royal Bank of Canada,” says AW@L representative Adam Lewis, “we have every intention of being there to let our community and the world know that we should all be ashamed of the way we have let both the Olympics and every community that is conspiring with VANOC be co-opted and appropriated by corporate and colonial interests.”

Lewis will tell the City and reporters that it is up to the City itself what the tone of the protest will be: “We intend to be there in the spirit of free expression, and in solidarity with the communities on the West Coast most affected by the injustices perpetrated by VANOC and the City of Vancouver—it is up to the City to decide whether or not that entails a confrontational stand or a peaceful one; we will be there either way.”

Monday’s press conference comes less than a week after the Torch Relay’s kickoff was disrupted on October 30, by peaceful demonstrators participating in an organized anti-Olympics event.

Earlier in October, AW@L activists were removed from RBC property after a protest at the King and University branch in Waterloo. Two AW@L members have been banned from all RBC properties in the Region. At a similar protest at the Uptown Waterloo branch in May, an AW@L ally was arrested and charged after displaying a banner that read ‘No Olympics on Stolen Native Land’ from the roof of the building. He faces charges at the City of Waterloo Courthouse on Wednesday November 4, where a demonstration from AW@L and allies is expected. In October of 2008, AW@L worked with activists from Six Nations to blockade the Olympic Spirit Train outside of Toronto during its cross-country promotional tour.

Rooted in Kitchener-Waterloo and comprised of student activists and community organizers, AW@L is a community based direct action group that targets perpetuators of war and environmental destruction, and stands in solidarity with Indigenous activists who are fighting against colonialism, and all people who struggle against oppression in all its forms.

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Links for additional information:
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association: http://www.bccla.org/
VANOC’s Torch Relay Manual: http://www.bccla.org/othercontent/vanoc_torch_relay_manual.p...
Victoria Torch Relay Event: http://www.no2010.com/node/1116