There is a long and proud tradition of athletes and artists taking their moment in the performance spotlight to also engage in peaceful protest.
One of the most famous examples is from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the gold and bronze medal winners in the men's 200 metres, bowed their heads and raised their black gloved fists during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner.
While there have been no athlete protests seen during the 2015 Canada Winter Games so far, there have been artist protests.
Prince George's Raghu Lokanathan turned down an invitation to perform at Canada Winter Games Plaza during the Games because of Northern Gateway's sponsorship of the Games.
Instead of refusing to play, Black Spruce Bog decided to take the stage, perform and then protest. After performing Tete Jaune Road during the nationally-televised opening ceremonies, two members of the group raised their guitars over their heads and turned the backs of the guitars toward the crowd. "Love This Land!" read the back of one guitar with "Food Not Dams" written on the other.
Two nights later, playing on the main stage at the Plaza as the lead-in act for Alan Doyle, two members of Black Spruce Bog wore "Stop Harper" shirts.
This is the beauty of both music and protest.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be the world's biggest Black Spruce Bog fan yet shrug his shoulders, Pierre Trudeau style, about their on-stage protests and say "well, as politicians go, they're a great band!" If Jessica McDonald, the president and CEO of B.C. Hydro, had been in CN Centre Friday night, she could have enthusiastically cheered after Black Spruce Bog played and also had quite a chuckle at the irony of the band's utter dependence upon electricity from hydroelectric dams to power their music.
In a letter posted Wednesday on their website, the band explained why it didn't take their instruments and leave quietly, like Lokanathan did.
"You may ask, why bring politics into this beautiful celebration of arts, culture, and athletics?" they wrote. "Our response is that political protest is also a form of celebration."
The band wanted to be part of Prince George's coming-out party this week and next but also wanted to express itself. No harm in that. The band goes on to state in their letter that they are devoting a portion of their performances fees to a group opposing all oil and gas expansion projects in B.C. Such is their right. What makes the Canada Games great is that it brings together athletes from around the country to compete and what makes Canada great is it brings together individuals with competing interests and values.
Which begs the question is what would happen if an athlete at these, or any Canada Games, decided to stage a protest during the medal presentation ceremony, like Smith and Carlos did in 1968? What if a gold medal recipient wore a sign reading "Say No To Enbridge!" or how about "Say Yes To Pipelines!"?
There is nothing in the athlete's oath, as cited by Prince George's Avril Harris during the opening ceremonies saying athletes couldn't stage a protest but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be consequences if they did. In 1968, Carlos and French were booted off the American Olympic team.
Joel Allard, the communications coordinator for the Canada Games Council, said it would be the provincial and territorial teams, not the Canada Games, that would decide what would happen, if anything, to an athlete who would stage any kind of public protest during the Games.
Hopefully, there would be no repercussions whatsoever. So long as the athlete is not bringing disrepute on their teammates, fellow competitors or their sport by expressing themselves, there should be no disciplinary action.
The athletes speak loud and clear with their performances but if they choose to peacefully stage a political protest at the same time, there should be no off-side penalty for it.
