The placement of the Olympic cauldron in the city of Vancouver has been subject of critisism since the beginning of the Games this weekend.

An American freelance journalist was detained at Vancouver’s airport for several hours and then rejected entrance into Canada allegedly due to his involvement in anti-Games organisations.

A group representing survivors of Indian residential schools on Canada's west coast announced last week that it will hold civil disobedience actions and disruptions during the February 2010 Olympics near Vancouver if by February 15, 2010 the Canadian government and mainline churches have not announced a timetable for the repatriation of the remains of the thousands of children who died in Canadian Indian residential schools.

Last month an American journalist was detained and questioned at length by Canadian border guards who wanted to know if she was planning to do any public speaking on the 2010 Winter Olympics. The journalist was shocked, but the Canadian authorities say the incident was within legal limits. Critics say that it is a part of a concerted effort to stifle dissent on Olympic issues.

When the torch passes through Canada's aboriginal communities it won't shed any light on the poverty that keeps their children from the Olympic dream

Unbalanced budgets and a lack of sponsors have had the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee fearing for the success of the Vancouver Games, but a 20 million dollar guarantee from the IOC is said to have secured the 2010 Winter Games.

COMMENT:In her second report from Canada, journalist Laura Robinson comments on the ongoing heated debate over gender inequality in sport.

In this op ed, first published in the Ottawa Citizen, Laura Robinson comments on the lack of attention paid to the Canadian aboriginal athletes by the Vancouver Olympic Games organizer, VANOC, despite the extensive use of indigenous symbols in promoting the Vancouver Games.