2010 Olympics
German reporter slipped security to join athletes in closing ceremony
By March 10, 2010 01:43 pm 1 commentsHow tightly protected were the world’s Olympic athletes when all were gathered together in Vancouver’s closing ceremonies viewed by millions across the world? A billion dollars worth of security didn’t prevent a German reporter from getting lost on his way find a bite to eat, then letting himself be swept onto the main floor of BC Place unchallenged, recording with his cell phone as the pageantry unfolded around him. Read more…
Filed inPremier's office added $2 billion to Olympic impact estimate
By March 8, 2010 03:19 pm 13 commentsThe British Columbia premier's office misrepresented a Conference Board of Canada report in a way that greatly exaggerated the economic benefits of hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Read more…
$2.5M lawsuit filed by ice cream parlour against VANOC
By March 3, 2010 02:12 pm 1 commentsAn ice cream parlour near the Olympic Village wants a judge to order a VANOC roadblock be dismantled. Read more…
Filed inOlympics fan threatened with arrest for wearing US flag
By March 2, 2010 04:17 pm 20 commentsWearing an American flag apparently was an offence that could get you arrested late last Friday night on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver.
In a video taken by a Vancouver-based journalist and posted on YouTube, several police officers surround a man with the stars and stripes draped over his shoulders. They tell him to put away his flag and, after a strained conversation, he complies. As the police move on, in a dismayed voice the man declares that he lives in Vancouver and loves Canada, even though he roots for the U.S. hockey team and just wants to "fly my colours." Read more…
Filed inTent village packs up
By March 1, 2010 04:35 pmOrganizers of the Olympic tent village that has occupied a vacant lot in the Downtown Eastside for the past two weeks are officially dismantling it. They are declaring the demonstration a success, but they are vowing that it will not be the last time they set up camp. “I think what you can see is that we are not afraid to take up space. We’ve been able to hold down 58 West Hastings for two weeks. We’re not afraid to occupy important sites in the neighborhood and in Vancouver and have our voices heard," said Nathan Crompton, one of the tent city organizers. Read more…
Filed inUnions lost out by not protesting Games: former labourer
By February 26, 2010 05:21 pm 65 commentsThe B.C. labour movement lost serious credibility by deciding not to protest the Olympics, a recently retired union member told the Tyee. Read more…
Filed in'Pirate' activists to storm Canada Place Saturday
February 26, 2010 02:34 pm 11 commentsThe "Pirates of Justice" -- a costumed crew of activists -- are raising a literal warning flag against cruise ships on which they say workers are overworked, underpaid and sometimes abused.
The group will converge tomorrow at 12 p.m. to stage a flash mob at Vancouver's Canada Place, using theatrical tactics to increase attention. Read more…
Filed inAnti-Olympics protesters declare victory
By February 26, 2010 10:45 am 27 commentsThe lead group behind most 2010 Games protests declared victory over Olympics organizers, despite potential internal splits and six pending police charges. Read more…
Filed inWill Sochi 2014 be an environmental disaster?
By February 26, 2010 10:30 am 3 commentsSOCHI, Russia - As Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi prepares to take the Winter Olympics torch from Vancouver, environmentalists are sounding the alarm. Read more…
Filed inVancouver promotes 'less as more' in green design
By February 26, 2010 09:49 am 1 commentsFrom laneway houses to shipping containers to 200-square-foot stackable condos, Vancouver's green building sector is showing off small, efficient designs at the 2010 Olympics. Read more…
Filed inRobertson wants citizens to lead way with city's open data
By February 25, 2010 06:22 pm 1 commentsVancouver's mayor says he doesn't know where his city's open-data policy will lead. He expects you and your fellow citizens to help show the way.
"The overall frame here is that we don't really know exactly where this is going and we shouldn't pretend to," said Gregor Robertson as part of a panel discussion today during Open Data + Culture Day at W2, the independent social media hub located in Vancouver's lower eastside. "We want to open it up, we want to make it possible for people to develop these next steps and encourage that." Read more…
Filed inWhat unites Critical Mass and the Olympics?
By February 25, 2010 03:21 pmOne event has a pedal-powered mandate and zero budget. The other is a $6 billion winter sports spectacle. Yet Friday’s Critical Mass ride and the 2010 Olympics may share some things in common. Read more…
Filed inVisiting escorts drive down price for sex
By February 25, 2010 09:28 am 4 commentsA flood of out-of-town sex trade-workers in for the Games have created a price war, a local escort claims. Read more…
Filed inOlympic economic impacts much smaller than promised
By February 25, 2010 09:15 am 14 commentsThe overall economic impact of the 2010 Winter Olympics appears to be falling far short of the British Columbia government’s projections. Read more…
'It's been horrible. I made a mistake': MLA facing drunk driving charges
By February 24, 2010 02:33 pm 41 commentsThe Liberal MLA facing drunk driving charges apologized again today for her behaviour, but said transit could be improved in North Vancouver. Read more…
Will the 2010 Games make commuting more sustainable?
By February 24, 2010 11:53 am 8 commentsOlympics transportation patterns could be the blueprint for long-term green legacies, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declared today.
Of course, there’s a big difference between an Olympics period and normal routine. Vancouver citizens were told for months to leave their cars behind. Read more…
Filed inLiberal MLA faces drunk driving charges
By February 23, 2010 04:22 pm 52 commentsLiberal MLA Jane Thornthwaite is facing drunk driving charges after being stopped at a road check last night, she said in a statement.
“Returning from a series of events, I was stopped at a roadcheck by RCMP in North Vancouver and am now facing impaired driving charges,” said Thornthwaite, the MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour, in the statement the Liberal caucus released at 4 p.m. this afternoon. Read more…
Organizers will close Olympic Tent Village if asked
By February 22, 2010 03:19 pm 4 commentsOrganizers of the Olympic Tent Village on Hastings street will likely comply with any police or city order to disband the encampment.
“This is a peaceful protest,” the Power of Women’s Elaine Durocher told reporters Monday afternoon. “When they ask us to leave – and if it’s before our demands are met – we will leave peacefully.” Read more…
Filed inEmery smokes up with Olympics visitors, runs through family stash
By February 22, 2010 11:53 am 1 commentsPrince of Pot Marc Emery, a temporarily free man in his home town while awaiting extradition to enter the U.S. prison system, spent the weekend smoking marijuana with Olympics visitors making a pilgrimage to his Hastings Street store, according to a post to his partner's Facebook page.
"Downtown Vancouver is frickin' packed. Ugh. So is our store... there's been a stupidly long line up all day to have free bong hits with Marc. Thank god I hid away my own personal stash away -- he's smoked all of our weed with strangers. It's definitely a LOT. I hope those strangers are supporters and actually DO SOMETHING to help Marc and the greater cause," reads Jodie Joanna Emory's Facebook post. Read more…
Filed in'Good vibes' at homelessness rally
By February 20, 2010 02:34 pmPivot Legal Society continued its tightly-focused red tent campaign with a noon-time homelessness rally that felt almost like a celebration.
“It’s got a good vibe,” the group’s executive director John Richardson told the Tyee as he shook hands, shot smiles and composed a speech in his head. Read more…
Filed in
The next page contains:
SLIDESHOW: Observing the legal observers
Searchlight artist calls own project "obscene"
'Leave big guns at home for demos' civil liberties group tells VPD
Closing ceremonies should reflect multiculturalism: critics
Show goes on at Olympic celebration site where fans were injured in barricade
Life after the Olympics for BCCLA legal observers
Stephen Colbert tapes TV show in Vancouver, Canadians meet their mocker
Tyee reader offers eye-witness account of LiveCity melee
VANOC cancels another 20,000 Cypress tickets
Games could become 'worst in Olympic history': The Guardian
Vancouver pirate radio shut down
Five B.C. firms to supply Olympic carbon credits
Story misquotes Tyee editor on who's calling shots for protesters
Student fired from Olympic job due to links to vocal critic
Giant banner dropped from Cambie Bridge
BC chiefs protest fish farms with 29-hour fast
Possible biggest turnout ever for Memorial March
Flash mob strikes Vancouver
Citizens protest Olympic protests
‘I don’t think buildings have feelings’, protester says
The page after that contains:
Luger's death: Questions mount over who bears responsibility
Pirate radio set to go live for Olympics
World media focus on luge accident as Olympics launch
Georgian luger dead after hitting pole in Olympic training run
Police find suspicious package; transit disrupted, fishing rod blown up
Torch skips past protesters, veterans at Victory Square
NDP MLA who proposed hosting Olympics pans games
Olympics, prorogation, HST, conservation on Harper protesters' agendas
Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls Olympics BC's 'golden moment'
BC's Coleman to foreign press: your problems are worse
380 BC Place workers to be laid off after Olympics
Up to 1,400 out-of-town Olympics protesters: Mercer
W2's Winter Olympics unaccredited media centre opens its doors
Is Premier Campbell running an Olympics campaign?
New experiments in 2010 media landscape
Anti-Olympics activist detained at border then deported
Amy Goodman recounts bizarre grilling by Canadian border guards
Mayor Robertson unfazed by negative media attention
‘We are absolutely a threat to these Games’: ORN
‘I’m in a prison’: Shop owner on the 2010 Games
Democratic Trust
As British Columbia and other jurisdictions consider allowing online voting, can it be made secure enough that people will trust it? Will it encourage more people to vote? But if something goes wrong, will it further erode people's confidence in their democracies? And what role is the media likely to play in shaping the debate?
These are among the issues to be considered at a May 26 discussion that Fair Voting BC and PartyX are hosting at The Hive in Vancouver. I'll be on the panel, along with UBC Law's Fathima Cader and SFU computer scientist Steve Wolfman. The results and recommendations are to inform the two organizations' public positions on online voting.
Meanwhile join me and other contributors on The Hook as we bring you the latest from B.C. and across Canada.
-- Andrew MacLeod
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The Tyee Most Recent
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Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
Folks, this is not a referendum on whether teachers 'nurture' or 'care' enough.
Death in Remand: A Jail Crammed with Risk
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