Native knitters investigated, B.C. MLA says

On a day when Vancouver's police chief insisted his officers would not act with a heavy hand against Olympic protesters, B.C.'s solicitor general was having to field questions about how heavily Olympic security personnel have dealt with a group of First Nations knitters.

A group of women knitters in the Cowichan First Nation on southern Vancouver Island had announced they planned a protest next week against VANOC for allegedly appropriating their classic native sweater designs.

The knitters had planned to wear their sweaters in protest and line a route to be taken by Olympic torchbearers next week. The plan reportedly caught the attention of authorities and was investigated by the RCMP.

"We have learned that the RCMP have been investigating people organizing this show of sweaters," B.C. NDP MLA Bill Routley told the legislature Thursday, and demanded to know if the solicitor general knew about it.

"Are you really believing that you're going to protect the Olympic runners by investigating knitters?" Routley asked.

'Knitters a security risk?'

Solicitor General Kash Heed said he had no idea what Routley was talking about.

Heed then had to face reporters' questions.

"Do you think knitters are a security risk?," he was asked.

"I don't know the situation here, but generally if you ask that question, no knitters aren't a security risk," Heed said.

Heed said the RCMP have to do what they can to ensure a safe Olympics and would not question their actions.

RCMP said they did not formally investigate the Cowichan knitters plans, but that one officer made one phone call to an organizer to inquire about the protest.

The knitters were turned down in their contract bid to create the sweater for VANOC, then alleged earlier in October that they had been ripped off when the Hudson Bay Company gave the contract to another Canadian sweater supplier using a design very similar to the classic Cowichan sweater.

Earlier Thursday, Vancouver police chief Jim Chu told a news conference that his officers would not clamp down on anti-Olympic political protests. Chu also chided some unnamed groups opposed to the Games for, he said, generating fear among the public by saying police would enter people's house and remove protest signs.