September 15, 2009, CBC News

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics plans to dispatch 20 teams of observers to ensure protesters and advertisers don’t overshadow the Olympic message. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics plans to dispatch 20 teams of observers to ensure protesters and advertisers don’t overshadow the Olympic message. But critics also plan to send out some observers of their own to keep an eye on the tactics of the Olympic organizers.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee’s 20 observer teams are intended to enforce its agreement with the International Olympic Committee that the local organizers must ensure the venues are “clean” of commercial, political or religious publicity.

‘This is a restriction on everyone’s free-speech rights, except for the IOC’s.’ — David Eby, executive director, B.C. Civil Liberties Association

The IOC directive was obtained by CBC News through a Freedom of Information request. A central focus of the so-called clean-venues guidelines is stopping “ambush marketing” and ensuring that non-Olympic sponsors don’t try to hitch a free ride on the Games.

“Brand protection teams of two or more members will conduct surveillance on foot, within and around each venue or cluster of venues, at neighbouring areas and in the city to ensure that venues are clean internally, to carry out surveillance for incidents of ambush marketing and to handle and report such activity in the appropriate manner with the goal of ceasing such activity,” the IOC document says.

Also included is a how-to guide for keeping the Olympic venues free of political, ethnic or religious protest. The teams will have the power to confiscate material that violates the Olympic brand, and remove unauthorized banners or signs.

But confrontation, the IOC suggests, shouldn’t be overly aggressive, for fear of negative publicity. Bill Cooper, director of commercial rights management for the organizing committee, or VANOC, says the teams will balance protecting the brand and protecting free speech.

“We want this to be a celebration of sport. … We’re not there singularly to prevent other messaging. We’re there collectively to let the core message rise above,” Cooper said.

“We’re trying to preserve the environment for a core message, which is the athletic performance and the nation versus nation, individual versus individual. That’s the story everyone’s tuned in for.

“Other stories, forcing them on spectators and athletes, is unfair because that’s not what they signed up for.”
Free speech threatened: critics

But critics such as David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, say it’s an attempt to crack down on free speech.

“This is a restriction on everyone’s free-speech rights, except for the IOC’s,” Eby said on Monday.

“We see free speech restrictions for athletes, for spectators, for members of the public who want to rent a billboard outside, people who want to hand out materials outside an Olympic venue — they’re not allowed to be brought into a venue,” he said.

To counter any crackdown, the rights association plans to create legal observer teams of its own to monitor how protesters are treated by VANOC, ensure Olympic organizers don’t try to violate the public’s right to free speech, and publicize how dissent is dealt with.

“The public policy concern about a private company being able to bind our government to restrict citizen free speech is very concerning,” Eby said.