CANADIAN POLITICS:

FOUR STORIES-VERY LITTLE PRESS:

As the Olympic Flame made its way across western Canada in the past two weeks it was met by demonstrations in four prairie cities. The stories of each stop are given below, three from the No2010 website and a fourth from the Regina Leader Post. A few commonalities can be seen. One, the obvious, is that they are all about demonstrations against the upcoming Olympic circus. Another is that all the demonstrations were peaceful. What is most striking, however, is that the demonstrations attracted hardly any mainstream media reportage. This may have been because they were indeed peaceful and therefore "not entertaining". It may also be because they just weren't weird enough. The press seemed to have no hesitation about reporting all of the antics of PETA in each and every stop. PETA, of course, provides the necessary daily dose of weird in a daily newspaper. Something about "seals and the Olympics" I think, however they may connect. Here in Winnipeg the PETA circus was duly reported. The other demo attracted no notice in the Winnipeg Free Press, while the Winnipeg Sun reported that "another demonstration also took place, but nobody was sure what they were demonstrating about". I kid you not. The demonstrations in Regina and Saskatoon attracted the attention of the Regina Leader Post (but not, insofar as I am able to determine the Saskatoon Star Phoenix), and even there the PETA clowns were given more prominence.

So here, as a public service, are the three stories that have only been reported on the No2010 site and in a few internet forums, and the other Regina story that hasn't shown up in such forums.

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Winnipeg: Olympic Torch Protested & Briefly Delayed:
January 7, 2010 - 09:04 — no2010
January 5 - The Olympic torch relay was successfully disrupted in Winnipeg this evening. The torch and parade were blockaded for fifteen minutes, after which time the relay was forced to extinguish the torch, and the torch and relay team were transported forward in a truck.

The demonstration began when approximately 50 people assembled at the Forks and handed out literature to people attending the torch event.

The demonstration marched from the Forks down Broadway on the sidewalk, and then on the boulevard, to meet the torch relay from the opposite direction, posting "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" stickers along the way.

Five people were dressed as Olympic rings and carried torches that were lit as the demonstration approached the official Olympic torchbearer.

Each ring represented an issue associated with the Olympics: Homelessness and the criminalization of the poor, massive police spending and the criminalization of dissent, environmental destruction, missing and murdered women, and the theft of native land.

When the demonstration reached the torchbearer, protesters took the street and blockaded the torch parade for fifteen minutes, chanting slogans and distributing leaflets.

The torch was extinguished and transported forward in a truck. Demonstrators were pushed out of the street by the Winnipeg Police Service.

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Saskatoon Protests Olympic Torch Relay:
January 14, 2010 - 01:48 — no2010
Protesters peaceful at rally
By Jeremy Warren, Saskatchewan News Network, January 12, 2010

http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/2010wintergames/Protesters+peaceful+rally/2430999/story.html
While thousands of supporters at Kiwanis park waved flags and chanted encouragement for the 2010 Olympics, a small group of protesters had their slogans and flags that denounced the Olympic industry.

About 30 protesters, part of a national movement demonstrating against the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, took their grievances to Saskatoon's Olympic torch relay event Monday.

"True Sport or Corporate Opportunism?" read one protester's sign.

Homelessness in Vancouver has worsened since the city's successful bid, which lead to the elimination of low income housing, and there's been much ecological destruction from construction and renovation of Olympic sites in B.C., said demonstration organizer Ashley Budd.
The corporations -- from Coca-Cola to Royal Bank of Canada, both of which had significant presence at Monday's event with company giveaways and booths -- are using the games to push product, not sport, said Budd.

"They're influencing these kids," said Budd, a University of Saskatchewan student. "This isn't an education. It's a corporate takeover."

Event organizers bused in more than 1,000 students to Kiwanis Park to watch the torch relay and lighting of the Olympic cauldron. Attendance was between 5,000 and 7,000 people, said organizers.

Spectators were handed free bottles of Coke products and flags and RBC tambourines.

Commercials played on a large screen above the performance stage. The entertainment MC spliced in corporate slogans in chants to rouse the crowd.

"Are you happy?" said the MC, to cheers from the crowd. "I can't hear you! Are you happy?"

The crowd cheered again. Then the MC revealed the Happiness is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

"Are you ready to open happiness, Saskatoon?" Then the Coca-Cola-sponsored performers took the stage.

The crowd was urged to cheer to "create a better Canada," (perhaps one without Coco-Cola-Molly ) to which again the crowd responded with cheers.

"Are you ready to create a better Canada? Let's do with RBC," said the MC. ( it obviously got stranger and stranger as the night wore on-Molly )

Saskatoon Olympic Torch Relay Organizing Committee chair Jill Cope said corporate sponsorship is necessary for the event.

"Putting on a torch run of this magnitude, you certainly need corporate sponsorship," said Cope. "(The advertising) wasn't blatant. (cough, cough-Molly ) I think the kids, and adults too, had fun."

While demonstrations disrupted torch relays elsewhere in Canada, the demonstrators in Saskatoon were peaceful. They drummed and stood silently and burned sage. When approached, they answered questions or distributed leaflets.

"We're not trying to stop the Olympics," said Budd. "We're trying to bring education to the Games."

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Edmonton Protests Olympic Torch & Tar Sands:
January 15, 2010 - 21:57 — no2010

No Torch, No Tar sands

Edmontonians stand up against capitalism

by Dawn Paley

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/2463
EDMONTON-- Dozens of people protested the official Olympics ceremony in downtown Edmonton this evening, an island of resistance in a sea of people out to see the big show.

Those standing together against the torch drew attention to social and environmental issues that they argue are exacerbated by the Olympics.

"Capitalism just makes me feel gross," said Megan Heather, who was leafletting in the crowd gathered at Churchill Square. "It's sort of at the backbone of what is really fucking humans up," she said. (I'm sorry to criticize my "own side", but I just have to cringe at this sort of thing-Molly )

Activsts chanted slogans including "Homes not Games," and "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land."

They also drew a clear link between the tar sands and the 2010 Olympics, but the connection wasn't clear to bystanders.

"Most Edmontonians don't agree with it, they know where the bread and butter comes from," said Ed Dykstra, referring to a banner reading "No tar sands, No Olympics on Native Land."

As for why activists would be concerned about the tar sands, Dykstra also had no idea. "The tar sands is a very minuscule part of the greenhouse gas problem," he said. "As far as mining the ground is concerned, there is nothing growing there in the first place."

"The greenest games that are supposed to be carbon neutral are heavily sponsored by the companies active in the tar sands, the fastest growing contributor to climate change," said Macdonald Sainsby, who also organizes an an annual conference about the tar sands. This year's conference will focus on the Olympics as well as the tar sands.

Three people were handcuffed and detained on the torch route for allegedly swearing at the torch. They were later released without charge.

Audio from yesterday's actions in Edmonton:

http://www.mediacoop.ca/audio/2464

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Finally, here's the article from the Regina Leader Post about the demonstration in Regina, the one not reported by the No2010 people. Once more, like in Winnipeg, the PETA people get prominence, or in this case equal play. All this for the sake of three paid staffers for the donation sponge that is PETA who travel from town to town following the Olympic Torch. I'd rather not get diverted into a full fledged attack on these people, but I would suggest that they are the lefty equivalent of tele-evangelists, and I'd suggest that nobody give them a penny.

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Reginans stage protests before arrival of Olympic torch:
By Josh Campbell, Leader-Post

January 7, 2010
REGINA — Not all Reginans want to hold the Olympic torch high this Saturday evening as it makes its way through the city.

Some would rather not see it at all.

Mere blocks apart in downtown Regina on Wednesday, two rallies took place, organized (by-Molly )groups that support the Olympics as a friendly international competition between athletes, but not as a means for corporations and countries to wash their hands of "dirty oil" and seal blood.

The first rally, outside the downtown Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) building, was spearheaded by the Council of Canadians (COC). It questioned RBC's sponsorship of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, saying this is a "greenwashing" tactic to get the public to believe the bank is environmentally friendly.

"They want to make themselves look better than they really are," said Jim Elliott, head of COC's Regina chapter.

A pamphlet COC distributed Wednesday read: "RBC is providing $15.9 billion in funding to coal and oil companies, including the tar sands. The 'make a pledge, carry the torch' campaign allows RBC to use the 2010 Games to market itself as a 'green' corporation and support tar sands development at the same time."

RBC representatives were contacted, but had not responded by late Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, at the corner of Scarth Street and Victoria Avenue, a giant inflatable seal was providing shelter to three shivering protesters.

One was Norfolk, Virginia, native David Shirk, a full-time employee with PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals). Shirk is travelling ahead of the torch and carrying his 10-foot-high inflatable seal with him to raise awareness about the annual seal hunt off the coast of Newfoundland and P.E.I.

Of the estimated 5.6 million seals off the coast of Atlantic Canada, the government allowed 280,000 to be hunted in the 2009.

According to Shirk, only three per cent of the overall seal kill is for Aboriginals. The rest is done by large corporations.( Love those "large Newfie corporations"-Molly )

"Just as China had a bad human rights record, so, too, should Canada be under scrutiny for the amount of seals they allow to be hunted," said Shirk. "I am horrified that people are still allowed to club baby seals over the head."

Shirk's belief in the cause has enabled him to handle the Canadian cold. "It's pretty cold up here," he said, "but it's nothing like getting skinned alive like baby seals do."

LOCAL NEWS MANITOBA:

FIRST NATIONS PROTEST MISSING WOMEN DURING TORCH RUN:

Well, it looks like the province of Manitoba will let the Olympic Torch run pass with very little in the way of protest. On its first pass through the city of Winnipeg little happened in the way of 'anti-Olympics' besides the appearance of what is apparently a "travelling PETA" protest that follows the torch run from city to city. I hardly want to even begin discussing those people. The Winnipeg Sun reported that there were "a small group of other protesters" but that nobody was able to ascertain what they were protesting.

The only place where any significant protest took place was in eastern Manitoba when the torch first entered the province. The protest by a number of native activists was not about the matter of unceded native lands on the west coast and the seemingly eternal wrangling about land claims in Canada. It was, however, about an issue equally as important, the hundreds of native women who have disappeared over the years in Canada, presumed victims of fatal violence. If the reader wishes to follow this issue more closely I can suggest the website of the Native Women's Association of Canada. Each year, on October 4, the NWAC holds the 'Sisters in Spirit' vigils in numerous communities across the country to remember this missing and murdered women. Last year the event was held in 72 different Canadian centres.

The demonstration in the east of the province got little publicity. Here is one item from the CTV Olympic coverage that gives an idea of what happened.

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Murdered and missing women a ‘national disgrace’:
The Globe and Mail
By Susan Krashinsky

RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF REYNOLDS, MAN. - The Olympic torch trucks whizzed along the Trans-Canada Highway into Manitoba yesterday, but as they crossed over the Whitemouth River and flew past a remote junction, a slower and more sombre procession took place.

Horses. Seven of them, carrying leaders from native communities as nearby as Roseau River and as far away as the Canupawakpa Dakota Nation near the Saskatchewan border. Those who didn't ride walked along the shoulder. They came to this stretch almost 100 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, in cars and vans and buses, to draw attention to the plight of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

The demonstration was peaceful, and did not disrupt the torch's progress.

Allan Courchene, the principal of the high school at the Sagkeeng First Nation brought a gaggle of teens on the 90-minute trip in the early morning. "I brought our students to support the cause of our females that have gone missing," he said, adding that such cases need to be investigated with more urgency.

"We are not protesting the athletes," said Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation. He organized the demonstration. "We welcome them. But we want to remind people ... what's happening to our people."

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-GUELPH:

WHAT HAPPENED AT GUELPH:

The news media are abuzz in the last 24 hours over an incident during the Olympic Torch run in Guelph Ontario. The torchbearer, Cortney Hansen, was allegedly knocked over by a protester. There is, however, another side of the story, one that seems quite probable given the photograph above. The demonstrators allege that Hanson fell over because she collided with a policeman in the security detail. In other words she "tripped over a cop". The offending object in its Olympic outfit can be clearly seen in the photo above. The following article is from Global TV. Note that while the "stumble over cop" version is given that this take on the events is well buried below a headline that says the opposite. The same sequence of events was also reported by Tony Saxon, a reporter for the Guelph Mercury, who was apparently an eyewitness to the events. His story can be seen here. I find it interesting that the vast majority of news reports tell nothing about this other side of the story. By the time the matter has been clarified via the courts the Winter Olympics will probably have already come and gone, and it is doubtful if any retractions will be published at all, let alone timely ones. Here's the story.

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Olympic torch bearer knocked over by protester:
Katherine Laidlaw, Dean Tester and Philip Ling, Canwest News Service:

HANOVER, Ont. — A woman carrying the Olympic torch was knocked down by a protester Monday morning during the Olympic torch run in Guelph, Ont.

Brittney Simpson, 19, from Kitchener, Ont., was arrested and has been charged with assault, according to Guelph Police Service. She is scheduled appear in court in February.

Simpson allegedly knocked the torchbearer — Cortney Hansen, 28, from Milton, Ont., — to the ground at about 7:50 a.m. Monday morning.

A crowd of demonstrators appeared and disrupted the relay but the torch remained lit, police said. Hansen was treated at the scene for her injuries by Olympic Torch Run medical staff, but got back up and continued her leg of the relay.

A spokesman for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee said the disruption was an “isolated incident” and was responded to “rapidly and appropriately” by the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit and the RCMP. The two groups are responsible for the safety and security of the torchbearer and the escort team.

“It is unfortunate that this torchbearer’s once-in-a-lifetime experience with the Olympic flame was disrupted in this manner,” said torch relay director Jim Richards.

“We understand that the Olympic Games are a high-profile event and will attract attention and that people have the right to express their opinions,” he said. “We ask that they do so peacefully and respectfully.”

The incident occurred in front of about 1,000 children and parents who attended the festivities, police said in a release.

Simpson is part of an anti-racism protest group known as Kitchener-Waterloo Anti-Racism Action, gathered to protest the flame passing over native land and the continued poverty in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, according to protester Alex Hundert.

Hundert said the protest was meant to be peaceful and blamed the police for the incident.

“The RCMP people kind of freaked out and basically caused the person with the torch to stutter-step and then trip,” he said. “And then things got much worse, because as that person went down, they basically (started) . . . what sounds like a minor attack on the protesters.

"Basically, the relay team caused a disaster and the police decided they needed to arrest somebody."

A local reporter said it appeared the woman fell after bumping into a police officer. (NB-MOLLY )

“The 28-year-old Milton woman hit the ground hard ... seemingly tripping over the leg of a police officer who was struggling with protesters trying to interrupt Hansen’s Olympic moment in downtown Guelph,” Tony Saxon of the Guelph Mercury wrote.

There have been protests throughout the torch relay, but it has been mainly peaceful.

The relay route was altered Dec. 21 as the torch made its way through the Six Nations community in Grand River, Ont. The move was a response to anticipated conflict with protesters.

One of the protesters gathered outside a news conference that day said she was protesting the Olympics as a call to fair treatment of aboriginal people in Canada.

The torch was briefly delayed in Toronto Dec. 17 when hundreds of protesters filled the streets shouting, "No Olympics on stolen native land!"

Several groups in Victoria caused disturbances early in the torch’s national relay. Though that protest began peacefully in late October, it grew to a parade of around 200 people who effectively blocked the route and cut 10 torchbearers out of the relay.

One protester that said there is concern about the amount of money being spent on the games when budgets for health and education are being stretched.

Later Monday, on the Saugeen First Nation leg of the relay, there was no sign of protest.

Community members gathered around a fire outside the Ojibwa reserve band office awaiting the flame.

Nearly 50 Olympic supporters stood, some waving signs and carrying Canadian, Ontario and aboriginal flags.

Adam Kahgee, one of the flag bearers, said the community was supportive of the Olympic relay.

He said he appreciated the relay’s efforts to reach as many Canadians as possible, keeping with what he called the “for-the-people attitude of the Olympics.”

“I think it’s a great thing,” the 27-year-old Saugeen resident said.

He added that although no one in his community was protesting, those who have demonstrated in other regions are entitled to their opinions.

“Obviously, everybody has a different opinion and can express those opinions. It’s Canada, right?” he said.

“There are two sides to every story and it’s good that both sides are being heard.”

Randy Roote, whose nephew Blaine was another Saugeen torchbearer, said more community members came out to support the relay than he expected.

“I haven’t heard any bad feedback. It’s a big thing for our people to have the torch coming through,” he said, adding that one day maybe his community will have an Olympian of its own.
Earlier Monday, Day 60 of the relay found the torch passing through Erin, Orangeville, Hanover and Walkerton.

“Don’t drink the water there.” That’s the tired phrase Colin Wells heard when he told people where he would be carrying the Olympic flame during his portion of the relay.

Walkerton is perhaps best known for the E. coli tragedy from nearly a decade ago, when contaminated water resulted in seven deaths and widespread illness.

With supporters carrying flags and homemade Olympic rings lined the streets, cheering in support of the torch, Wells said he hopes being touched by the flame will remove some of the town’s negative stigma.

“That’s getting old. I really hope it brings some positivity to the town. It’s such a nice town — we get the best sausage at our local place.”

As the 39-year-old London, Ont., resident carried the torch over a bridge and into the town, snow blustered around him and coated his glasses. The wintry conditions didn’t put out his flame — although a torchbearer later in the relay in Walkerton wasn’t as lucky, as her flame had to be re-ignited twice.

Wells was joined by his wife and 17-year-old son, as well as his father, who was dressed in his original red and white torchbearer suit, with the words “Calgary ’88” printed on his back.

Both Wells and his father had carried the torch in the 1988 Calgary Olympic torch relay, after Wells filled out countless applications for both of them until they were both chosen and passed the torch off between them.

Wells said he believes in the spirit of the Olympics, and doesn’t understand why the flame encounters protesters.

“It’s horrible,” he said. “We had an aboriginal girl on our leg of the relay and she didn’t have a problem with the Olympics. I don’t understand it.”

Later, in Owen Sound, where the torch ended its day’s run Monday night, things smoothly until its second-last leg, when runner Peter Kelly bent to light the flame of the next torch bearer, Paralympic medalist and quadriplegic Jason Crone, and it didn’t work.

"I went to light Jason’s and it wouldn’t light," Kelly said. "You think these torches are light but after running 300 metres with it and holding it for five minutes, it’s heavy!"

As Kelly began his portion, the self-described "Olympic nut" said he tried to go slowly to absorb what was going on around him.

"It was unbelievable, the crowds were amazing. The kids with their own torches, and there was this one guy who had made this huge torch out of cardboard. Everyone was waving as we went by," he said.

Kelly said he’s carried the regret of not running in the relay for the Calgary 1988 Olympics with him for the past 21 years. "The first time I ever saw the Olympics, it was on a tiny black and white TV at the cottage. You could only make out traces of what was happening but I was absolutely fascinated," he said. "It’s just the idea of gathering the best in the world, you know?"

After VANOC escorts dismantled Crone’s torch and got it lit, the relay started again.

Crone, who completed the final leg of the torch relay for Day 60, won a bronze medal in wheelchair rugby at the Beijing Paralympics and is an Owen Sound native. He lit the community cauldron at the city’s celebration after the relay concluded for the day.

The torch relay begins again Tuesday for Day 61, and is expected to pass through Blue Mountain, Collingwood and Wasaga Beach, before stopping for the night in Barrie.

The torch’s trek began Oct. 30 in Victoria. It will make an appearance in 1,000 communities before Feb. 12, when it reaches its final destination of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

CANADIAN LABOUR:

MORE ON SECURITY

ASSAULTS ON REPORTERS IN TORONTO:

A couple of days ago Molly reported here on assaults on the part of Olympic security in Toronto. The victims were two reporters from the Toronto Sun. According to the following article from said newspaper the assault against these two people followed upon a previous assault against a photographer from the Canadian Press. The union representing the two Sun reporters (CEP Union Local 87-M) continues to press for charges to be laid against the assailants. So far the employers of those assaulted, the Sun and the Canadian Press, have been quiet about the matter. To watch for future developments stay tuned to the CEP Union Blog. Here's the update from the Toronto Sun on what was presented here before.

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Sun man roughed up:
Hospitalized after incident with cops
By CHRIS DOUCETTE AND BRETT CLARKSON, TORONTO SUN
NEWMARKET -- Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch what was supposed to be a peaceful passing of the Olympic flame yesterday.

But supporters of the Vancouver 2010 torch relay were instead left stunned as they watched security staff manhandle two members of the media, one of whom, a Sun reporter, had to be hospitalized with a head injury.

Not only that, but earlier in the day, a Canadian Press photographer was also banged up by cops in downtown Toronto as he tried to shoot pictures of the torch.

Ian Robertson, a 22-year Sun newsman, was filming video of shooting victim Louise Russo's torch relay along Davis Dr. when an RCMP officer wearing an Olympic uniform grabbed him, causing him to fall.

"It was absolutely overzealous and uncalled for," Robertson said last night.
'JUST A GUY'
Robertson, 61, had no idea the security officer, in his Olympic garb, was a cop. "He never identified himself, so I had no idea who he was," Robertson said. "He was just a guy in a track suit."

As he was being forced off the road, Robertson twisted in an effort to break loose from the unknown man's clutches.

"I was telling him to take his hands off of me, that this was unnecessary," Robertson said. "That's when I stumbled and fell backwards."

Sun photographer Dave Thomas was also pushed several times but he was not injured.

Four other Sun staffers have since come forward with similar complaints about torch security staff. York Regional Police say they are investigating what happened to Robertson.

The mild-mannered Robertson was fitted with a neckbrace, put on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to Newmarket hospital after the shoving incident. Afterward, he was clearly dazed and had difficulty speaking.

"We're appalled by what appears to be an unprovoked and unwarranted assault on one of our journalists who was simply doing his job," said Sun interim editor-in-chief James Wallace.
'GOON TACTICS'
The "police-state goon tactics" was totally uncalled for at what was supposed to be a feel-good event with obvious media interest, said Brad Honywill, president of Local 87-M of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which represents Sun journalists.

Honywill wants criminal charges laid against the officers involved.

Earlier in the day, Canadian Press photographer Frank Gunn was also on the receiving end of police aggression when officers apparently took issue with him trying to photograph the torch near Front and Church Sts.

Gunn was grabbed on the shoulder by one cop, ran into by at least one more bike cop, and then surrounded by eight or nine officers on bikes. Gunn said he was crouched on the ground, about three metres away from the torch when it was lit, and was clearly identifiable as a journalist with his cameras and torch-relay credentials when the police turned aggressive on him.
'OPEN EVENT'
"They certainly appeared to be overbearing," said Gunn, a 25-year news photographer. "They fail to recognize that this is supposed to be a free and open event. They turned it into a very closed and aggressive event."

But from the RCMP, the police measures were "appropriate."

RCMP Staff-Sgt. Mike Cote, a spokesman for the V2010 Integrated Security Unit, defended the security detail's actions and said they have done nothing wrong.

"The security team is responsible for the safety and security of the torchbearers and the torch at all times," Cote said. "As a result, (they) will not let anyone other than the torchbearers and the flame attendants into the secure perimeter."

Based on reports from the torch security team, Cote claims Robertson was warned twice before being physically removed from the area. ( Like they "warned" the Polish immigrant who was tasered to death the other year at Vancouver Airport I presume-Molly )

However, he couldn't explain how the media are supposed to know where that area begins and ends.