Native community opts to celebrate torchBy James BradshawFrom the reserve, the smoke stacks of numerous chemical plants can be seen belching out grey clouds, and a putrid stench from some plants wafts over the reserve lands when the wind changes direction. Little more than a kilometre down the road, the smell intensifies outside Shell Canada's Sarnia refinery, where a ghostly fog rises from a canal that passes the plant before emptying into the river.
But Chief Chris Plain refused to use the torch's visit as a soap box from which to air his grievances.
"I didn't come to be political today. I'll talk about the torch, but I don't want to talk about community issues," he said, softly and politely. "I started my speech that way, but I thought, no, I'm not going there. We didn't want this event to showcase some of the issues we have outside. This is a celebration."Comment: Chief Plain has more restraint than I would've had in his situation. He could've alluded to the problems, at least, without getting heavy-handed about them.
For more on the subject, see
Torch Blocked on Canadian Reserves and
Aboriginal Youths to Carry Olympic Flame.
(Kevin van Paassen/The Globe and Mail)
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