Civil Liberties Update

The Olympics have an unfortunate history of being associated with government activities that repress dissenting voices and “undesirable” populations. In China, dissidents and potential protesters were detained and silenced. In Atlanta and Sydney, homeless people were harassed and displaced by security teams.

Here in Vancouver, people who have written letters to VANOC, gone to city hall to express Olympic related concerns, and even some who visited independent book-stores, have been the targets for increased scrutiny by the Olympic Integrated Security Unit. Our province has proposed legislation that would allow police, arbitrarily, to move homeless people out of high traffic tourist areas and into homeless shelters. Vancouver’s city council is seeking By-law amendments to punish “leafleting” and non-celebratory signs with $10,000 per day fines over a 40 block area of the city; and VANOC is urging cities along the torch run to ban signs and handouts provided by anyone except Olympic sponsors.

The BCCLA doesn’t want Vancouver’s Olympics to be an Olympics where the homeless are displaced, free speech interfered with, and citizen rights trampled with the mistaken purpose of attempting to impress international tourists and media. We believe what will impress tourists and international media the most is demonstrating our tolerant, diverse and unique democratic society and the values that guide us, protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

WHY THE BCCLA CARES ABOUT THE OLYMPICS