The IOC has partnered with four host Aboriginal communities to help set the stage for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, but a Development Studies graduate suggests the First Nations may be trading cultural prominence for international exposure of present-day human rights abuses.
Cassandra Schwarz, a Development Studies graduate, spent the final year of her degree studying the role the Olympics and international sporting events can play in the promotion and demotion of human rights.
"There is no vehicle parallel to it on the international stage," she says. "The Olympics are the biggest, most inclusive event in the world and nothing else has its political tone."
That political tone took on prominence after 1964 when South Africa was barred from the games and not invited back until Barcelona 1992 after the repeal of apartheid laws. As well, the Olympics were used by political leaders in the United States when it and 60 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and when Russia and 14 Eastern bloc countries retaliated in 1984 by boycotting the Los Angeles games.
"When the games were given to Seoul, China, they were given with the hope of democratizing a country and ending dictatorship," says Schwarz. "The IOC strikes a fine balance between the controversy and political tone of the games. If they would take a more pro-active role, they could do a lot to bring human rights issues into view for the public."
Schwarz says despite the level of influence held by the IOC and the ways in which countries have used the event to promote their interests, it has consistently declined the opportunity to bring attention to human rights issues (and abuses). Her analysis suggests that the IOC and host Olympic committees, including Vancouver 2010, miss critical human rights opportunities by actually downplaying the voices of underprivileged communities. She specifically looked at Vancouver 2010 and how it has approached promoting the First Nations.
Early on in the planning for Vancouver 2010, there were concerns that first nations people may protest during the Olympics as a way to bring attention to their circumstances. Schwarz says those fears have subsided due to the inclusion of Aboriginal people into the planning process for 2010.
"It is a way of silencing the voices of protesters and the plight of Aboriginal human rights abuses from getting into the media," she say. "It deflects from attention that could be brought to the conditions of First Nations people, including high drug and alcohol use and poverty. These issues are not known to the rest of the world or even to all parts of Canada. We've done a good job of suppressing this history."
While Aboriginal groups in British Columbia will benefit from displaying and auctioning their artwork at competition venues and showcasing icons like the Inukshuk in the Olympic logo, Schwartz says the Olympics will continue to position sport and the economic capacity of a country above human rights.
"If they gave the Olympics to Sudan, the changes in that country could be amazing. But they have no money to host the games so the IOC is less and less involved in the developing world, rather than really contributing making a change in international development, and economic practices."