I’ve already posted about PIVOT’s and the BC Civil Liberties Association’s mobilisation around Vancouver’s stringent (and possibly unconstitutional) anti-dissent Olympic laws. It now appears that UBC students (undergrads, I think) are now also taking it upon themselves to educate themselves on their rights with respect to the Olympics and how it’ll impact them (given UBC is where some of the games will be conducted, and thus site to both heightened security and protests).
Some University of British Columbia students will be getting extra tutoring to make sure they know their rights when the Integrated Security Unit arrives on campus for the 2010 Winter Olympics in February.
About 330 students are to be trained to staff a legal assistance hotline or act as observers of security operations during the Games. The Student Legal Fund Society has teamed up with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to host the workshops.
Organizers of the workshops expect that some students will be involved in protests both on and off the campus, where UBC is hosting ice hockey events at the newly expanded Thunderbird Arena.
Emily Griffiths, president of the Student Legal Fund Society, said the group will put up more than $18,000 to train students, stressing that this isn’t about encouraging them to protest but about making sure their rights are protected.
“Because of the nature of the Olympics and the way that it affects students on campus and the ways that students on campus have been treated in the past by law enforcement, we are very nervous,” said Griffiths.
Memories of APEC
Griffiths was referring to the 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation conference at UBC, when students protesting against several unelected national leaders were pepper-sprayed by the RCMP, and signs urging free speech and democracy were destroyed by police.
The police action led to the creation of the Student Legal Fund, to which each UBC student pays an annual fee, and to a public inquiry which found that police actions “did not meet an acceptable and expected standard of competence and professionalism and proficiency.”
B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director David Eby said his organization also is putting up $18,000 to fund the student training.
“Our proposal is to provide know-your-rights workshops and legal observer training for students to do legal observing on campus during the Olympic period,” said Eby, “so that students are fully prepared during the Olympic period so we avoid another APEC-type situation.”
The Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit is headed by the RCMP and includes members of the Canadian Forces and municipal police departments.
