Multi-media presentation by west coast indigenous activists organizing against the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler

Thursday, JANUARY 31 at 6:30pm
Native Friendship Center of Montréal
2001 boulevard St-Laurent, métro St-Laurent

free - wheelchair accessible – childcare available
presentations in English with translation towards French

Montreal event poster linked at:
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2008/01/no2010montreal.html

Speakers include:
- Kanahus Pellkey, Native Youth Movement Warriors Society
- Dustin Johnson, Ts'mksi'yen Nation

The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place on unceded indigenous land in two years. The Olympic spectacle attacks indigenous peoples, the poor and the Earth. In the spirit of resistance to colonialism, two indigenous youth activists are touring throughout the Great Lakes and the East Coast in January and February 2008.

The Native Youth Movement (NYM) works to revive traditional knowledge and inspire Native youth to defend their Peoples and Territories. Both Kanahus and Dustin are actively organizing against the 2010 Olympics.

Montreal event organized and endorsed by:
No One Is Illegal-Montreal, Frigo Vert, Mohawk Nation News, Solidarity Across Borders, QPIRG-Concordia, La Pointe Libertaire, Liberterre, Immigrant Workers Center and others...

East coast speaking tour organized with the core support of the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM)-Guelph ( ipsm.guelph@gmail.com )

FOR MORE INFO:
514-848-7583
nooneisillegal@gmail.com
www.no2010.com

BACKGROUND

January 2, 2008

With the 2010 Winter Olympics scheduled to occur on unceded Coast Salish, St’at’imc and Squamish territory in two years, the spectacle surrounding them continues to wreak havoc on Indigenous people, poor people, and the Earth. In the spirit of resistance to colonialism, with the 2010 Olympics as a main target, Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement and native youth Dustin Johnson are touring throughout the Great Lakes and East Coast in January and February 2008.

“By them choosing to have the Olympics here, it’s opening up our land, our sacred sites, our medicine grounds,�? says Kanahus Pellkey. “We want investors to know our land is not for sale.�? Pre-Olympic fever occupies the province of BC, and the economic excitement has massively accelerated gentrification and the building of highways, resorts, and condos. The construction of infrastructure for the 2010 Olympics itself is adding to extensive destruction of traditional homelands of the local Indigenous peoples.

In October 2007, more than 1500 Indigenous people representing communities across this hemisphere held the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, on Yaqui territory in Vicam, Sonora, Mexico. They stated in their final declaration, “We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island–Vancouver, Canada.�? This speaking tour is strengthened by this momentum, and by the knowledge that hundreds, if not thousands of Indigenous people now plan to attend the Olympic Games, not in celebration, but in resistance to the danger the Olympics poses to Indigenous lands, identity, culture, health, livelihoods, and to future generations.

The Native Youth Movement works to revive traditional knowledge and inspire Native youth to defend their Peoples and Territories.

Kanahus Pellkey is a Secwepemc and Ktnuxa Warrior and a spokesperson for the Secwepemc chapter of the NYM. She has been jailed before for fighting against the illegal occupation and theft of Secwepemc Lands for the Sun Peaks ski-resort, and is active in opposing the 2010 Olympics.

Dustin Johnson is a member of the Ts'mksiyen nation and is active in organizing anti-colonial resistance to the 2010 Olympics.

ABOUT THE 2010 OLYMPICS

The Olympic organizers operate with a budget of almost $2 billion, and other costs to government surpass $6 billion. Despite all the Olympic-related mega development, Vancouver is now home to North America’s fastest growing homelessness crisis. Indigenous people account for 30% of this homeless population, despite making up only 2% of the total population in the province.

Dozens of low-income hotels and apartment buildings are being converted to unaffordable condominiums. As thousands of people are forced from their homes, they are then criminalized for being homeless. Private security firms are hired by the city to further police the streets, long-running squats are shut down, and social services are more stressed and threatened than ever. The solution of the municipal and provincial governments and the police is to ignore the root cause, and instead pay people to leave Vancouver and repress those who stay.

The darker side of the 2010 Olympics is further apparent by examining how their sponsors and supporters are some of the most destructive companies on Turtle Island. These include:

• Petro-Canada, one of Canada’s largest producers of oil and gas,
• TransCanada, one of the continent’s largest transporters of oil and gas,
• Canadian Pacific Railway, long an integral tool of colonization,
• Hudson’s Bay Company, another company responsible for the colonization and theft of Indigenous land,
• General Electric, one of the world’s top three producers of military aircraft engines and major producer of nuclear power plants,
• General Motors, long a top contractor for the Canadian military and now the world’s largest automobile manufacturer,
• Dow Chemical, the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer and cause of the Bhopal, India disaster,
• Bell Canada, who’s CEO is one of the top corporate architects of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

There is of course so much more that could be said. For further reading, see:

www.no2010.com
www.2010watch.com
www.harrietspirit.blogspot.com