Turtle Talk

From NPR (article, transcript, and audio) (H.T. to A.K.):

And organizers of the Winter Olympics have made a big deal about including Canada’s Indians. Four native groups in the Vancouver area are official co-hosts, and native art is the basis for a lot of this year’s Olympic merchandising. But as NPR’s Martin Kaste reports, some native people accuse their leaders of selling out.

MARTIN KASTE: Last week, a small crowd of Canadian natives gathered in Vancouver to watch a bubble inflate.

Unidentified Group: Three, two, one.

Unidentified Man: (Singing in foreign language)

KASTE: This inflatable dome is the Aboriginal Pavilion, a showcase for native arts and culture located on prime Olympic real estate, just a couple of blocks from the hockey arena.

Tewanee Joseph is a member of the Squamish nation. His people have land in and around the city of Vancouver. And from the start, he says, they’ve insisted on being full partners in the Vancouver Games.

Mr. TEWANEE JOSEPH (CEO, Four Host First Nations Society): Our chief said, we’re not going to be just brought out for beads and feathers. This has to be meaningful participation.

KASTE: Joseph is CEO of the Four Host First Nations Society, an entity created by nearby native governments to participate in the Olympic planning. And he says that participation has been real.

Mr. JOSEPH: I’ll give you a good example. Some people were submitting artwork that wasn’t designed by First Nations people, so we said absolutely not.

KASTE: (unintelligible)

Mr. JOSEPH: Artwork for the – just as part of the games, yeah. And so we said, you know, we have to work with indigenous artists, and we have to authenticate that. And so that’s part of what we did.

KASTE: But just a few blocks from the Aboriginal Pavilion, it’s not hard to find natives who feel less included.

Mr. RICK LAVALLE: I don’t put up with this nonsense.

KASTE: Rick Lavalle is upset over what he says is increasing police roughness with native panhandlers ahead of the Olympics, something he plans to protest today during demonstrations before the opening ceremony.

Mr. LAVALLE: I’m going to have war paint on my face and stuff like that, and I’m going to be marching with, like, thousands of people on these streets.

KASTE: Lavalle’s not just angry at the cops. Like many natives who live in Vancouver’s poor Downtown Eastside, he’s also annoyed by the Four Nations’ alliance with the Olympic organizers. He believes that the money tribal governments are earning on Olympic business has bought their silence on long-standing native grievances. Chief among those is the unresolved legal status of native land.

Stewart Phillip is president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.

Mr. STEWART PHILLIP (President, Union of British Columbia): British Columbia is unceded indigenous territory. Unlike the rest of Canada, we have not entered into, nor have we signed treaties.

KASTE: And to some, that lack of treaties means the Olympics are being held on stolen native land. Phillip says if the Four Host First Nations want to allow the games on their land, that’s their right. But he’s not happy about it. His organization has kept its distance from the Olympics, and he’s even refused an invitation to take part in tonight’s opening ceremony, which he expects to be -his word – Disney-esque.

Mr. PHILLIP: I don’t think it’s proper for me to stand there and hold hands with government officials and be part of the misrepresentation of the well-being of our people.

KASTE: Like Indians in the U.S., Canadian natives suffer from high unemployment, chemical dependency and family breakdown. But some natives say there’s been improvement – for instance, more respect from the Canadian government.

Ms. ALICE GUSS (Squamish Tribe Member): I think we are striving back.

KASTE: Alice Guss is the great-great-granddaughter of Joe Capilano, a Squamish chief who famously traveled to London to plead his people’s case with the British government. A century later, Guss says native participation in the Olympics is part of what she calls her people’s healing journey.

Ms. GUSS: It’s a positive thing for us. It’s a once in a lifetime. And it’s bringing back a lot of the teachings within our community, and our children are dancing. And it’s just awesome.

KASTE: Guss lives near the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the winding road to Whistler that was recently rebuilt for the Olympics. The project was controversial, because it runs through traditional native land, but Guss says even here, the government has tried to be sensitive. It placed big stone highway signs along the road that are carved with place names in the original Squamish language. Guss says she likes that touch, because it’ll let Olympic visitors know where they really are.

Martin Kaste, NPR News.