Roger Cox: A prize as great as a Winter Olympic gold medal awaits for Canada's First Nations

Published on Thursday 11 February 2010 12:53

Olympics have started, and for the next two weeks the world's top skiers, ice hockey players and bobsleigh mentalists will battle it out for national pride and personal glory. In the background, however, there's something much more interesting going on: an entire culture, one that has been largely invisible to the wider world until now, will be thrust onto the international stage.

No offence to the athletes about to compete – you're amazing, all of you – but in the grand scheme of things Vancouver 2010 is shaping up to be far more significant as a cultural event than as a sporting one.

Ever since Captain Cook first cruised along the coast of Vancouver Island in 1778, the original inhabitants of south-western British Columbia have suffered discrimination, marginalisation and worse, but now, finally, they are to have their day in the sun. The Games will take place on the ancestral lands of four so-called First Nations – the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh – and this fact will be referenced in a hundred different ways. From the 40 million opening ceremony to the climactic medal presentations, it will be impossible to watch TV coverage of this year's Olympics without being aware of aboriginal involvement. The official mascots of the games, Miga, Sumi and Quatchi, are all based on characters from First Nations mythology; the winners' medals and several of the official contest arenas incorporate designs by First Nations artists; and First Nations performers will be front and centre throughout, not just at the opening ceremony, but also as part of the Cultural Olympiad – a wide-ranging showcase of Canadian music, dance, drama and more that has been running since 2008 and which culminates in a packed programme of events over the next two weeks.

The man who made all this possible is an unassuming lacrosse player-turned-local councillor from North Vancouver called Tewanee Joseph. A member of the Squamish First Nation, Joseph realised early on that if the area's indigenous communities were to benefit from the arrival of the Olympics on their home turf they could achieve much more if they worked together. So, with the blessing of Chief Gibby Jacob, hereditary leader of the Squamish, he set out to convince the other three nations that they should unite under the banner of The Four Host First Nations.

"To be honest I don't think people ever thought the Four Nations would work together," he says. "It doesn't happen that often and usually when it does the organisations kind of flounder.

"The Four Nations are all family – my second cousin is a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh, my daughter is part Musqueam and I have family who are Lil'wat through marriage. Like family, we don't get on all the time and we can be quite adversarial."

In the end, though, Joseph's patience and determination paid off and The Four Host First Nations put themselves at the heart of the planning process for the Games. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of their involvement will be the 2010 Aboriginal Pavilion in downtown Vancouver – a huge inflatable dome, 65 feet high by 65 feet wide, surrounded by a traditional shed-style longhouse. In addition to hosting live music and dance performances, the Pavilion will also give visitors an opportunity to sample First Nations cuisine.

Joseph explains the significance: "In our culture you show your wealth by what you give, not what you get – the biggest chiefs have always been the ones that gave away the best stuff at ceremonies or festivals known as potlatch. So we draw this analogy with the Olympic Games: we're going to feed people, we're going to entertain people and we're going to share our culture. We're calling it the biggest potlatch the world has ever seen."

Several First Nations leaders, including Chief Gibby Jacob, have said they think the Winter Olympics represent a turning point for aboriginal people, not just in the province of British Columbia, but right across Canada. Joseph agrees: "I think, for us, this is a time of transformation. It's a time for change, it's a time to be bold, it's a time to adapt. It's time for us to say, 'You know what? We can remember the past, we won't forget the past, we won't forget our teachings, but where do we go now? What are we going to look like seven generations ahead?'"

Some have suggested that, by making First Nations culture part of the Vancouver 2010 brand, it has somehow been devalued. Joseph doesn't agree.

"It is the biggest honour for us to have a worldwide event that has aboriginal art incorporated into it. We hope this will make people from all over the world want to find out more about us."

You can start by visiting www.fourhostfirstnations.com

&#149 This article was first published in the Scotsman, Saturday February 13, 2010