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Arthur Manuel articulates the importance of the Olympics to any country and their position on human rights. The Harper government's position on Indigenous human rights is demonstrated by their refusal to  support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

----- Original Message -----
From: Arthur Manuel 
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 1:54 AM
Subject: FW: 2010 Resistance! Meeting

Dear Friends:

Canada’s Human Rights Record is on the Table. 

Any country, China or Canada make their Human Rights Record an issue when they decide to put themselves forward to host the Summer or Winter Olympics.  This aspect of the Olympic Games need to be understood.  Any community leaders who support the Winter Olympic Games when the country that is hosting the games violates the Human Rights of their peoples, brings into question their own credibility as defenders of the Human Rights of their peoples. 

It is clear that Canada does not support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples because Canada does not want to recognize Indigenous Land Ownership as an aspect of our Human Rights as Indigenous Peoples.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the first major international instrument to challenge the Colonial  Doctrines of Discovery.  It is the Colonial Doctrines of Discovery that Canada and British Columbia governments use to claim our traditional territories here.  That is why Canada does not want to recognize the Declaration because they would be undermining all the provincial laws, like the Forestry Act, Mining Act and Municipal Act that steals the land from under our feet based on the Colonial Doctrines of Discovery that basically says we are not Human Beings and our land can be stolen by civilized people. 

The 2010 Winter Olympic brings this message to the forefront.    

I know that Canada is trying to buy there a way around this issue by getting a few people and a few communities involved in benefitting from the Winter Olympics, but that is so obviously divide and rule it isn’t really worth dealing with, unless the indigenous supporters can come up with some good excuses to justify how they accept the fact that Canada does not support the Declaration and does not have policies implementing it in Canada.  The nature of the Olympics requires a real sense of honesty, just like dope testing requires when dealing with athletes.  Money and Human Rights Violations do not mix any better than does drugs and an athlete at a Clean Winter Olympics.  Canada has a real honest choice to make between now and 2010, Dirty or Clean on Human Rights.  

The copy of the vote on the Declaration shows that China actually voted for the Declaration but Canada did not.

Arthur