By Adrian Nieoczym, Kelowna.com, Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

The police took a special interest in an anti-Olympics speaking tour’s Kelowna stop last night. And while the cops say they are just doing what’s necessary to keep the Olympics safe, critics contend their actions are intimidating and an attack on the right to dissent. About 15 minutes before the talk began, according to event organizers, a uniformed RCMP officer dropped by the Okanagan College classroom where it was being held to check up on what was going on. Once the talk was over, one of the speakers, Aboriginal activist Ska-Hiish Manuel, was approached in the college parking lot by a waiting member of the special Vancouver 2010 Joint Intelligence Group.

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By Carmen Teeple Hopkins, YU Free Press, Jan 2010

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has confirmed that there are over 500 Indigenous women who are missing or who have been murdered in Canada over the past 30 to 40 years. The disappearances and deaths of Indigenous women have received very little attention compared to their white counterparts, as well as inaction from the police, media, public, and government. This has led to considerable impunity of the state and perpetrators. In particular, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) is an area that is known for an extremely high number of Indigenous women who have experienced violence. It is also one of Canada’s most impoverished neighbourhoods.

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by Chris Arsenault, The Dominion

VANCOUVER—As the debate about global warming heated up on the road to climate talks in Copenhagen, companies with investments in Alberta’s tar sands were scrambling to clean up their image as dirty oil producers. Sponsoring the 2010 Olympics—frequently proclaiming themselves the “Green Games”—has become a convenient branding tool for companies profiting from the increasingly controversial tar sands, according to a University of Toronto professor who has written several books on the Olympics. “Big corporations can milk that green image, and they have an excellent venue to do so with the Games because there is so much world attention,” said Professor Emeritus Helen Lenskyj.

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Indigenous Peoples Assembly

Friday, February 5 – Monday, February 8, 2010, Neskonlith, un-surrendered Secwepemc Nation, (so-called Chase, British Columbia, Canada). Contact: nymcommunications@gmail.com. For Indigenous Peoples only.

Weytk Xwexweytp. Greetings to the World. The Secwepemc Peoples and the Native Youth Movement are inviting Indigenous Peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere and the World to come and join with us at an Indigenous Peoples Assembly at Neskonlith, un-surrendered Secwepemc Territory from Friday, February 5th to Monday, February 8th, 2010.

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