Governor General’s 2010 Olympic Truce Youth Dialogue: Building Mutual Understanding

Vancouver, Thursday, February 11, 2010

How are you?

Let me begin by honouring the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, whose ancestral land we are standing upon this morning.

It is such an honour for me to celebrate the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Truce with you this morning, given this is the first time in Olympic Games history that Indigenous Peoples are official partners in the Games.

We should all be proud to be part of this historic moment!

It is also the first time that Canada has taken the initiative of creating activities and a whole program based on the Olympic Truce.

All that makes the event we are experiencing together this morning and the dialogue between us even more inspiring.

As I look around the atrium, I am so touched to see that so many of you joined us this morning! 

I am already energized by your presence!

With the moving prayer of Elder Grant, and the Squamish dance of solidarity, we have begun our journey of peace, uplifted by the wisdom and rich cultures of our indigenous forbearers.

Under the aegis of the Olympic Truce, we are guided by the universal spirit of friendship, reciprocity and respect, which has illuminated the Olympic Games since its very inception in Greece, nearly three thousand years ago.

Despite having very different origins, both of these traditions—the indigenous and the European—share a belief in a cosmic bond that links us all in a circle of interdependence and connects our every gesture and thought to the creative force of the universe.

This holistic worldview teaches us that to discern universal harmony, and to apply it to our lives, we must learn to look beyond the differences that tend to divide us, and find renewal, healing and unity in the values and aspirations that we share.

But in a world confronted with so many divisions—ideological, religious, ethnic, linguistic—how can this ideal of global harmony in the human family emerge as a concrete reality throughout our communities, our society, and the wider world?

The ancient Greeks left us with much food for thought.

The Mayor of Olympia is here with us today, whom we had the great pleasure of meeting – didn’t we, Jean-Daniel? – during a recent State visit to Greece to receive the Olympic flame. He can tell us about his Town of Olympia, which is the birthplace of the Games.

The ancient Greeks believed in the power of art and sports to ease tensions, cultivate dialogue between neighbouring peoples and prevent divisions and wars among rival cities.

And so the Olympic Truce was born from that necessity.

And the first peoples of this land called Canada also left us with interesting solutions.

Just think of the potlatch, a lavish gift-giving ceremony, which many scholars today claim helped to redistribute wealth to vulnerable populations and to promote peace among neighbouring first nations. 

I understand some of you already participated in a massive potlatch ceremony this week at the Indigenous Youth Gathering.

How exciting!

The spirit of the Olympic Truce and indigenous traditions remind us that peace is not only about putting an end to wars and halting the proliferation of weapons.

Peace, to use the words of the great Martiniquan thinker and poet Aimé Césaire, is also about “humanising humanity.”

That is learning to open up our heart to people in need.  

Empathising with another person’s pain.

Reaching out to someone whom we do not know.

Peace requires vigilance to attenuate social and economic inequalities and to fight social exclusion.

Peace needs audacity to help spread a culture of reconciliation and mutual understanding.

It means taking one step closer to others, respecting their dignity, their identity, and sometimes their pain, around us, at home and abroad.

In Canada, we have embarked on this very exercise by creating our first Truth and Reconciliation Commission to shed light on the dark story of the infamous Indian Residential Schools.

This is a historic moment.

For over a century, thousands of Indigenous children were torn from their families, from their communities, from their culture, and subjected to forced assimilation and abuse.

Because of this, all Canadians were dispossessed of the ancestral languages and cultures that are our deepest roots in this continent.

Over the next four years, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will travel across the country, to invite Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to confront history together, to examine this painful legacy and engage in new ways of living together. It is an engagement for justice and a commitment to human dignity and solidarity.

I believe that it is through our willingness to seek out the luminous truth and atone for past wrongdoing that we stand as a shinning symbol of peace to the world.

For we have shown that it is possible to unite around a shared ideal and shatter the barriers that seem impossible to overcome.

And it is this very ideal, this will for change, that I feel alive in our circle this morning.

Look around the room for a moment.

Here we are: Indigenous and non-Indigenous, Black and White and Asian, people representing all faith communities, Francophones and Anglophones, young and old, from all walks of life and experience.

We reflect the rich diversity that is today’s Canada, a country that contains the world.

And by our shared commitment to bettering our society, we embody a spirit of caring, which is so crucial in an era reeling from the effects of the “fend for yourself” mentality.

Let us think of the millions of people who have been hurt by the global financial crisis.

Let us remember all of the people displaced by violent conflicts.

Let us not forget our sisters and brothers in Haiti, who are desperately clinging to life after the terrible earthquake on January 12 which devastated the country.

Think of the hundreds of missing women in Canada, many of whom are Indigenous.

They all remind us that the world is crying out for an ethic of sharing.

And it is here and now that we must answer the clarion call.

As was shown during the massive, almost unprecedented, mobilization to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, we all have the power to effect change, whether it is in our immediate surroundings or on the other side of the globe.

It is often a question of making small gestures—from the local to the global—but staying steadfast in our willingness to build a world in which everyone, everywhere can achieve their highest potential.

And this is where I believe you, the youth of Canada, youth of the world, come in.

Since I began my mandate as 27th governor general of Canada, I have seen how you are collaborating, across all borders, to bring meaningful transformation to your communities.

Often using the arts, new information technologies and sport, you are achieving the impossible, often with very little resources.

We often talk about young people as if you were the future.

But I think it is high time that we recognize that young people are leaders today.

And it is here and now that we must hear what you have to say.

So I am here today because I believe in your ability to make a difference, and I believe in your words of hope.

I would like to hear you speak on the challenges facing your communities and on the solutions you can identify.

I would also like to know how you think we can work together—all sectors of society, all generations, and all ethnic, linguistic and national groups—to fulfill the Olympic ideals of peace, respect, and friendship.

We all have a contribution to make.

Every action counts.

None of us is in this alone.

I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

It’s your turn to speak out.

Thank you!