A Letter of Resistance to the City of Kitchener

In Opposition to the 2010 Olympics

September 24, 2009.

Since the awarding of the 2010 Olympics to Vancouver and Whistler, a growing and well-informed network has emerged to raise awareness about, and resist the social, cultural, and environmental injustices taking place in the name of the Olympics. In the lead-up to the games, the Olympic torch is scheduled to pass through Kitchener as it traverses the country on its way to the west coast. We demand that the City of Kitchener back out of the torch relay, for to remain in support will breed ongoing resistance

The City’s unflinching support for the torch relay, becoming more obvious with the recent response to the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association , projects support for the myriad injustices taking place in the Vancouver-Whistler corridor because of the Games. As a burning symbol of injustice and colonialism, the torch relay and the Olympics are a part of an unsustainable development paradigm.

For every Olympics, much is done to prepare the host city for welcoming the world. In Vancouver, efforts have been directed at “cleaning up” the city—a project of gentrification. This has entailed the implementation of newer and stronger policing projects and economic/building plans designed to eliminate the presence of people deemed undesirable. The Safe Streets Act and Project Civil City forcibly remove "undesirables" from public property for the comfort of wealthier members of society and includes 'no sleep no lie' bylaws that criminalise the homeless, a population that has skyrocketed to over 2500 from the 1000 present in 2003 when the Games were awarded. Thus far, over 1200 affordable housing units have been lost in Vancouver. This type of development defies financial and social sustainability—in Beijing, for example, the condos built in preparation for the 2008 Games are now largely sitting empty, the people displaced due to the construction remain homeless.

We are concerned that Kitchener is following a similar, dangerous path of gentrification. The closing of the Mayfair Hotel and condo developments near City Hall are symptoms of this. Kitchener has, however, taken a positive step in managing city parks by keeping them open at night, which benefits everyone who lives in the city. We urge the City of Kitchener to curtail gentrification projects and live up to its goals of equitability and liveability, as stated in the World Health Organization’s model for healthy communities. It is only logical to withdraw support for the torch, as the impacts it represents are far from the direction advanced by the WHO model that Kitchener has supported.

Throughout the history of the modern Games, host cities have had to deal with the burden of debts incurred which may take decades to repay. Traditionally, costs have been shared between taxpayers and corporations who sponsor the Games in exchange for promotional exclusivity rights. Almost $2 billion has already been officially spent or promised for the 2010 Olympics, and further billions in hidden costs have and will be incurred. For instance, after GM received millions of federal dollars to stave off bankruptcy, they assured that their financial commitments to the Olympics would not be compromised. Their bailout has come from taxpayer money, meaning that even more public funds are being (mis)used to cover the ever-increasing financial costs of the Games. Such “unpredicted” costs have in fact become a hallmark of the Olympics Games. Yet, as the games were awarded, Vancouver and the province were forced to accept liability for all cost overruns. As a city with its own problems, Vancouver is only being hurt by this luxurious type of spending.

Kitchener too, should be directing money to social services and affordable housing rather than hosting the torch relay, and should not be supporting the negative impacts the City of Vancouver is foisting upon its citizens. Rather than supporting local businesses, Olympic host cities have relinquished their decision-making policies in order to facilitate profits for “official Olympic sponsors” – the local torch relay will be no different: the celebration will be for the two main sponsors, RBC and Coca-Cola. Most critically, it is celebratory of a truly unviable economic trajectory, one that is hurting the citizens of Vancouver and taxpayers across Canada, and one that is fundamentally at odds with the needs of both Vancouver and our city of Kitchener. The Olympics are not an aid to the city’s economy. The torch relay serves only to symbolise a destructive economic path, one that is fundamentally at odds with the needs of both Vancouver and our city of Kitchener.

One of the most obvious impacts of the 2010 Olympics is the failure of local, provincial and federal officials and legislation in protecting vital ecosystems from destruction. For example, the Olympic Nordic Centre, built in the Callaghan Valley, destroyed 38 ha of old growth forest and has led to the near extirpation of grizzly bears in the larger area. At last count, Whistler has had over 125,000 trees clear cut, and the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion decimated the Eagle Ridge Bluffs, including some of the last intact arbutus habitat on the planet, and destroyed the adjacent Larson Creek wetlands.

The environmental legislation which has allowed these irresponsible developments to be undertaken mirrors the trend in environmental legislation which allows continued unsustainable development in Kitchener. This new development continues despite the recent city council announcement to protect vital riverside parklands and other socially and environmentally important urban green spaces. The region has utterly failed to take action to protect the Waterloo Moraine and the Grand River Watershed.

Finally, the 2010 Olympics, and all of the environmental and social destruction they have brought, are taking place on the unceded and shared traditional territory of the indigenous nations of the Coast Salish people. While it was encouraging to see the 2010 Olympic organizers consulting with affected First Nations during initial Olympic developments, it is also apparent that not all First Nations people in those communities are represented by the colonial band councils. The International Indigenous Youth Movement and the Native Youth Warriors of the Coast Salish have all been actively resisting the Olympics and their associated developments. Recently, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs also spoke out strongly against the games and are considering a formal protest. The duty to consult means that settlers must seek advice from the traditional governance structures of the First Nations, not just the governments and bureaucracies that are federally imposed. This means moving past relationships with band councils that circumvent indigenous governance structures and working to renew community-based forms of participatory democracy.
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Today the torch is being used to continue the project of colonization in Canada, as the Olympics are being held on unceded Native land in BC, and the torch is coming through the land of a sovereign Indigenous nation, right here on the Haldimand Tract.

In August 2009, the Six Nations’ Hoskanigetha (also known as the “Men’s Fire Council”) articulated a position that says that the torch should not pass through Six Nations territory. Opposition amongst organized youth groups at Six Nations has served to build resistance within the community against the torch relay and the Olympics themselves. The contemporary Olympics are an exercise in neo-colonialism and as such it is our duty, under the Two Row Wampum Treaty, to support resistance struggles at Six Nations.

As part of a community living on disputed land, we believe it is absolutely critical for the city to meaningfully uphold the Two Row Wampum Treaty signed between the Haudenosaunee and European settlers. Marked by two purple parallel lines juxtaposed against a white background, the Two Row symbolizes the two groups continuing on their own path, undisturbed by the others'. This means that each group is autonomous in how they live and govern and that the other group respects that autonomy as both groups travel forward. To honour our treaty obligations, Kitchener must satisfy its duty to consult for any new development on shared land: namely, the Haldimand Tract/Grand River Watershed. Our impact on the river affects downstream communities, and of critical importance right now is to stop developing the lands which are a part the ecologically vital Waterloo Moraine – an amazingly complex and regionally important water filtration and storage system.
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Kitchener City Council has decided to allow the torch through our streets. This symbol will come through our communities without our permission, and will use our tax resources that could be better spent on oft neglected social projects or ever-important environmental protection.

In this area the Olympic Resistance Network-Ontario (ORN-O) and AW@L continue to resist the 2010 Olympics. We are committed to educating the Kitchener-Waterloo community about the impacts of the games, as well as resistance to the Olympics and the local torch relay. We demand that the City of Kitchener withdraw from hosting the Olympic torch, and not allow the torch on city lands. By supporting it, the City of Kitchener is telling the world that the social and ecological injustices, and human rights abuses taking place in the name of the Olympics are acceptable and worth supporting. The oppression and destruction represented by the torch is something we are not willing to allow in our city, and we will resist it.