SportsSolidarityPovertyIndigenousGentrification November 18, 2009

Shaming the Flame in Halifax

Torch relay not welcomed by protesters

by Hillary Lindsay

Protesters shouted "Shame" as the torch relay went down Agricola St. in Halifax.

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The Olympic torch arrived in Halifax today and at least some of the city's residents did not give it a warm welcome. 

As the flame passed the corner of Agricola and North St, protesters held a banner expressing solidarity with opposition to the Olympics in British Colombia. 

"Politicans appeal to our love of sport to promote the Olympics," says Laura Merdsoy, one of the protesters.  "But the Olympics are really about profit-making for corporate sponsors and big business."

The Games are costing billions of dollars, points out protester Jane Kirby, "That money should be spent on housing, for example."  Instead, says Kirby, "People living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside are losing their homes due to gentrification related to the Olympics."

The group handed out flyers that explained their opposition to the Games:  "Corporate sponsors who finance the Olympic spectable profit at the expense of working people, Native communities, and the poor and homeless of the lower-mainland of British Colombia (Coast Salish Territory)."  The flyer points out that most of BC remains un-ceded and non-surrendered Native territory.

"Protesters chanted, "Homes Not Games" and "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" as the torch went by.