"First Nations claim their land - Canada‘s Olympic Countdown"

a report by Jürgen Hansen, Simone Stripp and Paul Webster

for German Public Television SWR „auslandsreporter“ (broadcast on February 3, 2010) and Deutsche Welle, international German TV (broadcast on February 8, 2010); shot in Full HD

                                                              When the 2010 Olympic Games put Vancouver firmly on

                                                              the world sports stage, the spotlight will also be on the

                                                              region's First Nations, or aboriginal people.

They are gaining increasing influence, particularly in western Canada. Their claims to ownership of key swathes of land have now been recognized by Canada's highest courts and by the provincial government of British Columbia.

With the court rulings to back them up, a few hundred native Americans can block projects worth billions of dollars, including the long overdue modernization of high-tension power lines that supply Vancouver with electricity.