2010 Olympics Business News for the Vancouver and Whistler regions of British Columbia. Plus, Alberta, the rest of Canada, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana & California

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Oprah Tyee Response:

The Tyee has a limit on the length of its postings, and Vancouver's mental illness / homeless issue is too complex to deal with in such a small space. This Tyee post is the longest I've ever written, so in fairness to all concerned, and instead of stringing it together in three continuations, I decided to put the bulk of it here ...

Regarding The Tyee's, 15,000 Homeless Report . . .


Look the Other Way

I understand your perspective Gordon_Ramble, that "Oprah has bigger fish to fry," but I think you underestimate how much she is impressed by Vancouver, and also that she is a genuine defender of people who cannot speak for themselves in the face of bureaucracy - in this case, the mentally ill citizens in the Downtown Eastside, not necessarily civic leaders and politicians. lol

If you've ever seen Oprah's show you'll know that many of her guests have emotional, and some, even mental illness.

Jim Pattison took Oprah on a yacht cruise last year and showed her only the fine points of BC's supernatural beauty. I think it would only be fair for Oprah to see the whole enchilada before she made up her mind about what it's really like to live here.

Vancouver has a "dark family secret," and Oprah often helps people deal with issues that have been ignored for too long.


Here's why it's important to bring someone like Oprah into the loop.

International news media are turning up the heat on Beijing 2008, and I know through extensive research that the world, and especially North America will soon be inundated with human rights issues respective of the millions of Chinese who were forcibly displaced to make room for the Olympics in China. Even though it contravenes human rights promises the Chinese made in their Bid Book, the IOC has refused to issue sanctions.

Instead, they look the other way. Sound familiar?

Beijing human rights interest respective of the Olympics is already a hot topic around the water cooler in the free world, but it will only last a very short time, a couple of months maybe, then news media will move on to the next fiasco of the moment.

Many people mistakenly believe that China only wants to host the Olympics so they can use the association to convince the world that they are a humane and fair country, but more importantly, the Chinese government wants to leverage the Olympics to fool their own people into thinking they are fair and humane. People in the free world already know how China treats its people. The really BIG family secret within China is that they execute between 10,000 to 15,000 citizens every year. We know it, but most Chinese citizens don't.

A year or so ago China started to tighten the screws on the internet, and they now regularly arrest citizens who talk about Olympics issues online. According to human rights activists, over a million people were forced to move so the IOC and their partner, China, could build Olympics sports facilities and infrastructure - another family secret.

2010 Olympics sponsors like RBC, HBC and Rona become sponsors to boost company moral in exactly the same manner that the Chinese government use the Olympics to boost the moral of their citizens.

Canadian sponsors will soon start to conscript Olympics volunteers from within their ranks, and honestly, who wouldn't run from their boring daily grind to become an Olympics volunteer, especially when you have your company's blessing? The reality though is that employees will have little choice, because if they decide not to volunteer, our research indicates that they will be very subtly ostracized, and some even penalized.

VANOC and the IOC characterize volunteering as "an opportunity of a lifetime." However, most employees do not realize that when they do volunteer, it will cost them way more financially than Olympics organizations, local news media, and their companies initially lead them to believe, but that's another story I've already covered at length.

The IOC pitches their program to sponsors in this elusive manner, and has done so for decades.

One of the IOC's family secrets is to keep Olympics related abuse of the Host community hidden.

We all know however that the best strategy to stop abuse … is to talk about it, and to do it from the tallest soapbox you can find in order to be heard over the din, which in this case comes from local news media whose allegiance lies with the IOC, not the community.

VANOC also readily admits they work for the IOC, which means our community takes second chair, and a very distant one at that, so you can't expect VANOC to shoot themselves in the foot.

So ... if Olympics organizations and their sponsors won't stop the abuse, and civic leaders and news media won't do it - who will?

Considering the controversy in China, it won't take long for international media to start looking elsewhere for inhumane issues related to the Olympics, and Vancouver is a prime target.

Anyone who lives in Vancouver knows it is immoral how BC's civic leaders treat mentally ill people, but we've kept the abuse hidden.

It's our family secret.

Local news media, who also happen to benefit directly from 2010, are only now making noise about it because some of us are complaining publicly, and looking to Oprah for help. Where were they years ago when the issue could have been managed responsibly and with much less fan fare and cost? Unfortunately, local news media were too busy selling advertising to developers who were promoting Olympics frenzy in an effort to drive up house prices and taxes. Taxes pay for the Games.

While all this occurred, the IOC looked the other way, and anyone who lives in Vancouver and doesn't speak up is doing so too. It's way too late for talking, and if something isn't done today Vancouver will soon be thrown headlong into a series of very violent protests. Do you want it to escalate to the point where the military has to be brought in to manage the riots, because in all Olympics regions, this is exactly what happens when human rights issues are central to the problem.

I vote for Oprah over the military.

The Olympics evolved long ago from being sports centric, to becoming profit centric. Many companies, including sponsors and suppliers that associate with the Olympics do so primarily to improve their net worth, and they too are looking the other way.

The window to leverage the attention the Olympics provides is extremely narrow. Consequently, Olympics organizations and their partners love it when people bicker about the issues, and do nothing about it.

2010 will arrive and nothing will change, just like in Beijing today, and Salt Lake City, Athens, and Turin yesterday. All these regions suffered huge deficits and none received the returns they expected or were promised in the Bid. Surely all these countries can't be inept?

Three cities in a row tanked and the IOC looked away?

Does this tell you anything?

Like maybe that the Olympics business model is outdated and broken?

We know from independent research that there is a period right before the Games when it is impossible for anyone to criticize the Olympics. It occurs because Olympics organizations have worked for years to convince the gullible that speaking out against the Games is unpatriotic.

This self imposed quiet period occurs in a narrow window a month or so before each Olympics event when athletes are gearing up to give it their all for their country. No one wants to speak poorly of the Olympics if it means throwing their country's athletes off the mark, which brings me to another very contentious issue. Athletes also look the other way.

How do you think Canada's Olympic athletes will feel knowing they won their gold medal on the backs of the mentally ill in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside?

Why do Olympics athletes look the other way? ... because the IOC forces them to do so. If athletes want to compete, they have to toe the line and keep their mouths shut or face the consequences. They are literally trapped, and it will take someone like Oprah to set them free.

Belgium just made it illegal (Feb 08) for their athletes to blog about the Olympics, but no such law exists in Canada, so how about it athletes?

What do you think about the mentally ill and homeless being displaced in Vancouver in order to accommodate the 2010 Olympics?

Own the podium or own your home?

I'd love to see an athlete's perspective on The Tyee.

Here's what Canada's Olympic DOUBLE medalist kayaker Adam van Koeverden told the CBC in November 2007; "You don't want to make your athletes starve and keep your athletes starving. Training needs to be treated like a career. If you want me to go and compete with the world's best, then I've got to be able to train like the world's best, and I don't think I should have to live in poverty in order to accomplish my goals." ... is this another Olympics family secret? Athletes are starving? you can read more about athletes here.



Is Oprah the answer to Vancouver's mental health issue?

Maybe not, but if you don't ask how will you know?

Olympics organizations want you to give up before you even try.

Oprah might not be the one, but she is a good place to start and end it.

No one ignores Oprah, not even Sam, Gord, or Steve.

One of the reasons for Vancouver to host the 2010 Olympics is to attract foreign capital investment, and when the Vancouver Board of Trade sees this opportunity going south on the back of a human rights spectacle they will no longer be able to look the other way.

We are currently in a very critical period to attract investors, and the window here is also very narrow.

It's obvious that Canada's and Vancouver's civic leaders will not do anything unless they are forced, and I don't know of any faster or cheaper way then by revealing Vancouver's family secrets to get the guilty to pay attention and act responsibly.

No more talking like they did with First Nations.

The only thing that counts at this late date are results.

I also clearly understand that our 2010 Olympics mental illness issue might not meet Oprah's requirements for a good television show, because it has to work for her too, and so be it, but at least ask.

Maybe there is a better match. I'm open to suggestions if anyone thinks our challenge might be a better fit for another person with high visibility, but if you don't explore this option today it will not be here tomorrow. Quite simply, we need someone with influence to give this issue the exposure it deserves.

Vancouver's story is legitimate and warranted.

All Oprah can do is say "No, sorry, not my fight, but good luck."

What do you have to lose? More than you know if you don't do something except chatter anonymously among yourselves on the Tyee. I love The Tyee, but its reach is primarily local, and Vancouver's human rights challenge is much bigger, plus, time has run out.

It is time to pull out the big guns and
give the feds something to think about.

VANOC recommends that small companies join together to win an Olympics contract. They maintain that small companies need a larger presence if they want to work the Games. Well the same advice applies whether you're looking to make a killing at the Games, or prevent one.

Email Oprah, and get your friends and colleagues to do it too.

Sincerely,

Maurice Cardinal

Editor: OlyBLOG.com


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