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Feature - First Nations reach for the rings

Some see the Olympics as an opportunity for future generations of the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations; others are not so sure

For many Squamish and Lil’wat people the chance to help host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games is a chance for hope.

With a large and growing population of young people in both Nations, and a growing unemployment rate, the Games are seen as a way of refocusing youth for the future.

Then there is the money.

Both bands have worked hard to negotiate a deal with the provincial government and the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation to get funding for programs seen as vital to the future of the Lil’wat and the Squamish people.

Some of it will come to the bands whether the Games end up in Vancouver and Whistler or not.

To the bid corporation the involvement of B.C.’s Aboriginal people is a great boost. Both the Squamish and Lil’wat people have written to the International Committee strongly endorsing Vancouver’s bid, which plans to hold 14 of the 20 sporting events on their territorial lands.

"They have been in as partners and participants since the beginning," said Paul Manning chief of staff for the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation.

"One of the fundamentals of this bid is that in this part of the world where we are inviting the Olympic world to come we have a wonderfully cosmopolitan diversity… and the fact that we have the First Peoples here with us and actively involved just makes for a complete bid."

But there are voices of dissent in the quest for the Games.

Some have little faith in the agreement’s ability help their peers, or the province to keep its word when it comes to deals, and some are concerned the increased tourism in the corridor will only end up hurting native culture and traditions.

But Squamish Chief Gibby Jacob said his focus since the beginning of the Nation’s involvement with the Games has been protection.

"What we determined from the outset was that we were going to go in there to protect our interests, so it was a matter of protection as opposed to anything else," said Jacob, who has been a board member with the bid corporation since the summer of 2000.

"As time went on I have become comfortable with how the planning was taking place, including the efforts for the protection of the environment and the sustainability aspect.

"It all became very apparent to me that there was some reality and truthfulness behind it."

Protection of culture was also high on the list of priorities, said Jacob.

"We take that very seriously," he said.

"We have probably been the most impacted, the people of Squamish, by White civilizations so we are for sure not going to allow even small segments of our culture to disappear.

"It is not in our interests or in the interests of our future to allow anything further to slip away."

Jacob is very cognizant of the criticisms that the Nations have sold out.

But, he said: "For those sitting outside the process it is easy for them to take the positions that we have sold out, but that certainly isn’t the case."

Last November Chief Jacob, Lil’wat Chief Allen Stager, Jack Poole, chairman of the bid corporation, and Premier Gordon Campbell signed an agreement outlining the shared legacies for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The agreement included four legacies which will flow to the Squamish and Lil’wat people whether or not the Games come to B.C.

• The province will provide 300 acres of fee simple land for the Squamish and Lil’wat people to pursue economic development opportunities within their shared territories.

• A Skills and Training Legacy Project will be developed to which the province will contribute $2.3 million over three years.

• $500,000 will be contributed toward the Nations for a Naming and Recognition Project, which will focus on dual naming of places in the shared territory and the recognition of the importance of "naming".

• There will be $3 million toward the construction of a proposed $15 million Squamish and Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler, due to open in 2004.

Other legacies will flow to the Nations should the quest to host the 2010 Games be successful.

They include:

• The inclusion of the Nations in the Legacies Society, which will own operate and manage the $102 million Nordic Centre in the Callaghan Valley, the $55 million Sliding Centre on Blackcomb Mountain, and the Athlete Centre – a dedicated accommodation facility for competing and training athletes located in the Callaghan.

• The bid corporation has agreed to contribute $6.5 million toward needed housing for the Nations. It will go first to the costs of construction of 50 moveable houses, which will be part of the Olympic Village. These homes will then become the property of the Nations to move or use as they see fit.

• The bid corporation guarantees there will be contracting opportunities for the Nations. These might include such projects as trail clearing, trail legacy construction, environmental works, processing of timber on site, construction, supplying materials and replanting.

• The province will contribute $3 million towards the establishment of an Aboriginal youth sports fund by April 1, 2005.

The stakeholders also agreed to resolve a separate agreement with the Nations on the Sea to Sky upgrades and their involvement with the Land Resource Management Plan.

The agreement is substantial and represents a significant investment in the two Nations, especially if the tracks of land they choose have highway access and can be developed.

But other stakeholders in the Games are also set to receive millions for their part, including Intrawest, owner of Whistler-Blackcomb, which will host all the alpine events in 2010.

Both Jacob and Lyle Leo, business development director for the Lil’wat people and a bid corporation board member, see this agreement as a skeleton which they will flesh out in the months to come.

Both Nations are already sussing out land opportunities for the 300 acres the province has promised the Nations.

"We first need to determine what the interests are of the Lil’wat and what our community needs and what we see as vital and what opportunities there are for us and then do a feasibility study," said Leo.

The land does not all need to be in one parcel, said Jacob. And the Nations can keep it, develop it, use the resources on it or sell it in the future.

"We are not restricted in what we can go after," he said.

"As long as it is crown land it is on the table. So that can be anywhere in the Sea to Sky corridor in our area of shared territory, which goes from Rubble Creek to close to the Pemberton area."

Historically the Lil’wat and Squamish peoples have shared the Callaghan Valley, a rich source of berries and food. It also contained a trail used as a trade route.

"History records Rubble Creek as a village site of the Squamish and Lil’wat people living together," said Leo.

"Then the mountain came down and it buried the village, but there is a very, very strong relationship between the two Nations."

While few would argue the Nations have shared interests now, some Lil’wat people remember a different relationship filled with its fair share of trouble.

"I’ve never known that we shared land with the Squamish people," said Lil’wat member Christine Andrew, 31.

"As far as I have known we were always at war. Then all of sudden we are best buddies with them."

Andrew, a mother of four who is studying teaching at university, is very worried about how the 2010 Games may affect her home of Mount Currie, 45 kilometres from Whistler.

While she is not against the Games she feels the decision for the Lil’wat to be part of the quest to host them was done without proper community consultation.

"The Mount Currie community was not asked," she said.

"You read the (newspapers) and you see everywhere that the Lil’wat are all for the Olympics. But I am a Lil’wat member and nobody asked me.

"I turn around and I ask others, ‘did somebody ask you? And they say no.’

"There is no communication with our higher-ups like the chief and council. There wasn’t any communication. So if there is no communication there now, then what is it going to be like in 2010?"

There was an information meeting in Mount Currie in early December. Andrew said most of the 150 people who attended were against the Games.

"We talked for four hours and maybe three people got up and said they were for the Olympics and all the rest, including myself, said they hadn’t told us enough and how dare they say I am for the Olympics when I haven’t said I was," said Andrew.

"At the end the 11 councillors who were there said, ‘well, we are here for the people,’ and so on and then they voted for it.

"Meanwhile all night we said we were against it and didn’t know enough about it."

Andrew also questions the integrity of agreements with the province.

"There are a lot of promises that were made in the past and they have never happened," said Andrew,

"So when they are promising me things then it makes me leery and it scares me because that is not what has happened in the past."

When it comes to the hope of putting a First Nation’s athletes on an Olympic podium, a fervent wish of Jacob and Leo, Andrew is skeptical.

"You know they say that some of our youth could be in the Olympics," said Andrew.

"Well really, what are the chances of that? We are not very rich and nobody even skis because we can’t afford it."

But it is a dream Jacob, Leo, and others refuse to give up on.

"We have a lot of young talented snowboarders and athletes," said Jacob.

"Hopefully, through the efforts that we have undertaken and the kind of people we have met there will be some real opportunity for our young people to get the training and the skills so that hopefully we would see one of our young people competing at an international level."

The Squamish Nation is searching for a focus for its youth. There are 3,100 people in the Nation and 65 per cent of them are under the age of 25.

It’s the same situation in Mount Currie, said Leo, adding that in his community of 1,400 more than half are unemployed, half are under the age of 25 and a third are under 19.

"The most important opportunity the Games represents is for the youth of the Lil’wat," he said.

"There are several hundred in the population under the age of 25 and the focus right now is in sport development and getting that going as early as possible to nurture our children so they gain the confidence to venture off and find new opportunities."

This is a big challenge when you consider the Sea to Sky Highway only reached Mount Currie in 1966, and bus transportation to Whistler only started three years ago.

"Many were living a pristine way of life until then and they are still very connected to that and are very suspect of any environmental impact around them," said Leo.

"A lot of them are concerned about the environment and there are on-going concerns about irreversible cultural impacts and the impact of opening the highway to all these visitors.

"They are already feeling run over with all these visitors in the last 35 years since the highway went through and we are still lacking the economic means to participate with the economic giant of Whistler."

Mount Currie’s traditional territory takes in all of Whistler and extends south. But because Whistler was developed before the courts had ruled on whether British Columbia’s First Nations had legitimate claims to traditional territory few benefits have flowed to the band from the resort’s growth.

Rosalin Sam, a member of the No Games 2010 Coalition, has spoken out repeatedly about her fears for the community and the development of the Callaghan Valley.

"There are trees in there that are 100 years old and there are petroglyphs and signs of our people living there and people don’t recognize that as history," she said from her Mount Currie home.

"They see it only as something that is getting in the way of progress.

"When I talk about saving our lands I am talking about my grandson’s grandchildren. I look beyond 2010.

"I don’t want our people exploited. We have our songs and our drums and our way of life and that is for us to use and I don’t want our elders or our children used in any way, shape, or form to be objects of tourism.

"They are doing this all for the sake of the almighty dollar and that is not good."

The upcoming band elections on March 10 are adding to the debate in Mount Currie.

At a recent all candidates meeting the topic was so hot no one would even touch it.

"There was almost no discussion," said Leonard Andrew who has been nominated for chief.

"They realized, wow, this is going to be a hornet’s nest if we don’t watch what we say so I think therefore they basically thought they would bring it up at a more opportune time."

Andrew, who was chief in the ’80s, is running again partly over concerns that the current council and chief have not been open enough with the community about issues such as the Olympics.

"I think the people really need to find out how this is going to impact our lives," said Andrew.

"In general of course I think the Games do bring opportunities. But when it comes to having it in your backyard it is another issue and you have to look at all the issues which come with it, not just the big dollar sign which seems to be in front our people right now."

Andrew would like to see a General Assembly held in Mount Currie to determine once and for all if the community is for or against involvement in the Games.

"You don’t want to govern where you say one thing and the people are feeling another," said Andrew.

Lil’wat Chief Allen Stager couldn’t be reached for comment.

But Leo is firm in his belief that Mount Currie must choose to participate in the bid to get the Games or it will lose out on a great opportunity.

"This participation is all about that bridging on-reserve with off-reserve opportunities," he said.

"If you are focused on your way of life on that Black Hole called the Indian Reserve, and you are controlled by the Indian Act you are not self determining.

"Until we get through these complexities and grow with it as a community it is going to be very difficult to grow outside the community and that is the growing experience the Mount Currie Nation is going through now."

Jacob said he has not had one Squamish Nation member approach him and say they are against involvement with the Games.

He also believes it offers a great opportunity for the Squamish Nation.

"For us in Squamish the ability to look forward and create the kind of necessary opportunity to see our Nation going forward in a positive manner is the only way to go," said Jacob.

"We as leaders today have to think several decades down the road in order to be able to provide our people with opportunities.

"If we don’t do that we are setting up our people for huge failures. We have to create a new and positive history for our people."



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