Olympic torch relay a Canadian affair

Route planners say the torch will pass within an hour's drive for more than 90 per cent of everyone in the country, including 115 aboriginal communities
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VANCOUVER — The emotional, heart-tugging torch relay for the 2010 Winter Olympics will last 106 days, cover 45,000 kilometres and pass through more than 1,000 communities across the country, from Victoria on the West Coast to Cape Spear on the eastern tip of Newfoundland.

The relay's detailed itinerary, worked on for more than a year by organizers of the 2010 Games, were released Friday before a pumped audience at an arts auditorium in posh West Vancouver, where snowboard and aerials competitions will be held.

Route planners said the torch will pass within an hour's drive for more than 90 per cent of all Canadians.

The ambitious, $30-million relay will begin Oct. 30, next year in Victoria, after arriving from Greece where the official flame for each Olympics is lit. The route includes more time in the host province of British Columbia than any other province, with five days at the start and 22 days at the end, concluding with its spectacular entry into B.C. Place in downtown Vancouver on Feb. 12 for the lighting of the official Olympic flame.

The torch will take 25 days passing through Ontario and 14 days traversing Quebec. The far north is also on the route, with a stop scheduled at the Canadian Forces Station in Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world.

A total of 115 aboriginal communities will take part in the relay.

The route is touted by the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee as the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. The flame will cover 26,000 kilometres by land, 18,000 by air and 1,000 kilometres by water.

“When designing this route, we wanted to include as many Canadians as possible,” said VANOC president John Furlong. “We will share the Olympic flame with young and old, northern and southern, eastern and western – and everyone in between – in order to make these truly Canada's Games and ones where everyone can celebrate with glowing hearts.”

Canadians wanting to be one of the estimated 12,000 torchbearers required for the long run can apply through several programs organized by the relay's two corporate sponsors, Coca-Cola and RBC.

Coca-Cola, which has adopted the slogan “live Olympic on the Coke side of life,” will select torchbearers who demonstrate a commitment to active living and sustainability, particularly teenagers who join the company's active youth program.

RBC, under the banner of “Help create a better Canada,” will give any Canadian a chance to carry the torch who shares an online pledge to do something – large or small – to make the country a better place to live.

Prominent Canadians and community leaders are also expected to be among the thousands of torchbearers.

Among the planned stops are Old Crown in the Yukon (the relay's westernmost point), the Igloo Church in Inuvik, Anne of Green Gables House on Prince Edward Island, and Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump in Alberta.

The highest point of the relay, apart from its air passage is 1,770 metres as it winds through Kootenay Pass in the Canadian Rockies.

More than two-thirds of the cost of the relay will be paid for by the increasingly hard-pressed federal government.

Tewanne Joseph, executive director of the Four Host First Nations, on whose traditional territory the Games are being staged, praised the widespread inclusion of aboriginal communities.

“This is an exciting opportunity for all of us,” said Mr. Joseph. “As a result of our partnerships and in the spirit of unprecedented aboriginal participation in the 2010 Winter Games, the Olympic flame will reach across the country, travel to aboriginal communities and celebrate the diversity and cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.”

Each day along the route, there will be two special ceremonies at larger locations where people can gather to celebrate the Olympics and the torch relay.

For many, the Olympic torch relay is the first and most visible evidence that the Games are just months away. The 2010 Winter Olympics are the first to be held in Canada since the 1988 Games in Calgary.

However, few expect the relay to be untouched by protests, and security is likely to be tight. The widespread publicity attached to the well-known Olympic torch is a magnet for those with a cause and a grievance.