Vancouver (pps/July 1, 2009) The three medal winners of the final event of the 2008-09 Luge World Cup series were presented with a paddle, created by an artist of the Squamish. The paddle was more than only a symbolic gesture. It was meant to emphasise the significance and involvement of the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver 2010 and the traditional and shared traditional territories of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, known as the “Four Host First Nations”.
A contract between the “Four Host First Nations”, FHFN, and the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, VANOC, ensures FHFN the property rights for numerous symbols and logos as well as the respective proceeds from product marketing. A third of these proceeds will then go to the Aboriginals, that is to cultural, educational and sports institutions. The Government of Nunavut, with the majority of its inhabitants Inuit, is represented by works of art, such as, for instance, the emblem of the Olympic Games. Chief Executive Officer of the “Four Host First Nations” is Squamish Tewanee Joseph.
The “Whistler Sliding Centre”, venue of the luge events, is built on the territory of Canada’s Aboriginal people. And this is why paddles were presented at the final of the Luge World Cup series to visually document this fact.
But the support of the “Four Host First Nations” goes beyond all that: contracts of about 33.4 million Euro (approx. 53.8 million Canadian Dollars) for the construction of the Olympic facilities were directly awarded to Aboriginal companies. Two of the biggest contracts went to “Ressource Business Ventures, RBV”, and “Newhaven Project”. RBV built the access roads to the Olympic Centre for biathlon, Nordic Skiing and Nordic Combined, situated in the Callaghan Valley for 20.5 million Euro (approx. 33 million Canadian Dollar). And Newhaven set up the buildings in the “Whistler Olympic Park” in a 11.8 million Euro (19 Million Canadian Dollar) project.
RBV is a joint venture of the Lil’wat Nation, who holds 51 per-cent, and the company CRB Blogging. The majority of Newhaven is owned by the Squamish Nation, the rest of the shares are owned by the Newhaven Construction Group. Bill Williams, Chief of the Squamish, recently disclosed in a newspaper interview that Newhaven has built schools, community centres and other projects throughout British Columbia. Williams: “The Olympic Park Project is only one example for the numerous projects that has given work to Squamish people.” Newhaven was also involved in the new building of the “Squamish Lil’wat Centre” in Whistler that was opened last year. Additionally, Squamish people were also involved in the construction of the “Sea-to-Sky” highways leading from Vancouver to Whistler.
According to Leonard Andrew, Chief of the Lil’wat Nation, the rate of unemployment within his 2,000 members-strong nation has dropped from 80 per-cent to now 40 per-cent thanks to the Olympic Games.
