The First Nations snowboard team and cultural centre in Whistler are just some of the Olympic benefits enjoyed by the Squamish First Nation. Chief Gibby Jacob of the Squamish Nations says training aboriginal young people to become potential future Olympians is one of the legacies he's most proud of.
Despite millions of dollars in legacy funding and hundred of acres of land earmarked for development, the cornerstone of the pitch to get First Nations on board has been showcasing its unique culture.
Fashion designer Pam Baker and Norma Nahanee are part of an artist's coop that has been quietly preparing for the games for years.
Nahanee makes native cookie cutters. She hopes the products will gain international exposure from the Olympics.
"I hope to see these all over the world," she said.
Baker says the band believes there will be a lot of demand for the products. In past Olympics, some First Nations artists sold out of their goods.
"It happened in Sydney, in Alberta. That's why it's important to promote our Squamish artists."
But another artist who works on Squamish lands feels Olympic organizers are shortchanging aboriginal artists.
"We have an issue with is using the term authentic aboriginal products to mean products made by non-aboriginal people overseas and the benefits going to those non-aboriginal companies," Shain Jackson of Spirit Works Limited said.
Jackson has started an online petition to make his point and he's asking VANOC to remove the term "Authentic Aboriginal Products" from items that are not produced by aboriginal people. At the same time, he's still hoping to sell his locally made products to the Olympic crowds.
Tewanee Joseph, of the Four Host First Nations Secretariat is proud of the exposure aboriginal art is gaining.
"For the first time in Olympic and Paralympic history you'll see merchandise with indigenous designs, it's never happened before and we worked with our artists to come up with a merchandising agreement with VANOC." He adds that a third of the profits from VANOC will go to an aboriginal youth fund - education culture and sport
He's hoping that fund will have more than a million dollars in it by the time the Olympics are finished. When asked about aboriginal designed products being made in China, Joseph said, "We're trying to bring art work from the shadows to a mass audience, it should be accessible to all cultures."
Meanwhile as artists scramble to finish up Olympic contracts, Squamish chiefs say the Games will bring recognition and visibility to the First Nation in another way.
"We're more or less invisible in our own lands as local First Nations," Chief Ian Campbell said.
What you will see more of are highway signs in the design of a paddle, what Campbell says symbolizes the Squamish Nation's collective journey.
Part of the Olympic legacy is to raise the profile of First Nations on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. Seven kiosks designed like traditional cedar hats are already on the route and will soon be full of historical and cultural information about the people who have lived here for thousands of years.
And aboriginal leaders are working on officially renaming places in their traditional territory -- like Garibaldi Mountain in Squamish. They hope it will keep their language and history alive for generations long after the Olympics.
