Vancouverites will once again have the chance to see Vancouver’s Olympic cauldron ablaze this week.
To recognize the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the 33,600-kilogram cauldron will be ignited on Friday, Feb. 4 from 6 to 10 p.m. Unlike the lighting last year for the Tokyo Olympic Games there will be no celebrations due to COVID19 protocol restrictions, according to an emailed statement from the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Some British Columbians belonging to minority groups believe the cauldron should remain dark during the Beijing Olympics to protest human rights abuses in China.
Metro Vancouver resident and activist Turnisa Matsedik-Qira says that should officials decide to light the cauldron, “it means for the Uyghurs and all human beings that they support genocide.”
In late 2021 Canada joined America, Australia and the United Kingdom in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games due to ongoing human rights abuses. This means no government official will attend the Olympics as a representative. Athletes, however, intend to participate.
With files from Graeme Wood
