Unsettling the Politics of Exclusion: Aboriginal Activism and the Vancouver Downtown East Side

A grandiose media spectacle erupted when the 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia from February - March this year. But carefully obscured behind the exhibition of sporting entertainment, the evocations of national patriotism, and the prominent logos of corporate marketers was the untold story of the price dearly paid by local residents.1 The location of the games was significant: They took place on the traditional and shared territories of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Four Host First Nations, 2009; Government of Canada, 2009) and while the International Olympic Committee recognized “The Four Host First Nations” as official partners, many people protested the fact that they were held on unceded sovereign Native lands and had caused the environmental destruction of essential Aboriginal ecosystems. In addition, the enthusiastic spending directly related to the Olympic Games came at the cost of social sustainability for many urban poor people (many of whom are Aboriginal peoples)

Publication Date: 
2010