Aboriginal participation in the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympic Games : consultation, reconciliation and the new relationship

• Main Author: Sidsworth, Robin
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28120

This thesis investigates Aboriginal participation in the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympic Games to assess the manner in which Aboriginal peoples participated in the 2010 Games and the implications of this Aboriginal participation for the Olympics and Aboriginal participation in British Columbia and Canada more generally. This thesis employs two means for providing the context and developing guidelines from which to assess Aboriginal participation in the 2010 Games. The first considers Aboriginal participation in past Olympic Games, which provides historic examples to contrast against 2010 Games efforts, and describes the Olympic context in which the 2010 Games occurred. Review of past Olympic Games reveals little meaningful Aboriginal participation, but indicates the increasing importance that sustainability issues, such as Aboriginal participation, pose for the Olympic Games. The second consists of the examination of jurisprudence addressing how Aboriginal peoples are expected to participate in projects and decision making processes in light of the constitutional protection afforded to Aboriginal rights and title. This jurisprudence review reveals that legal guidelines emphasize the need for meaningful Aboriginal participation to advance the purposes of recognition and reconciliation, that these purposes require greater consultation and accommodation of Aboriginal peoples, and that currently the Crown is struggling to structure positive responses to this judicial guidance. Following these two examinations, this thesis turns its attention specifically to Aboriginal participation in the 2010 Games. The utilization of the historic Olympic and Canadian legal contexts to assess the 2010 Games reveals that the Aboriginal participation which occurred was largely successful and praiseworthy. Aboriginal participation in the 2010 Games far exceed that of previous Olympics, and marks a significant improvement on much of the efforts to pursue Aboriginal participation assessed by the judiciary. This indicates that Aboriginal participation in the 2010 Games holds significant lessons for both the Olympics, and those seeking more effective Aboriginal participation in British Columbia and Canada.