News From Vancouver 2010 – Language And Security

In a report released Tuesday, Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages, said resources allocated to translation during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games must be beefed up, and the number of bilingual volunteers and staff need to be increased.

Fraser said, "there is often a gap between good intentions and actually succeeding in delivering the goods. I've never had any doubt about (the head of VANOC's) commitment to this; I've found it inspiring", reports the Canadian Press.

But he said it's useful to look at preparations for the Games and make some recommendations for improvement.

The report issued 18 recommendations. Vancouver 2010 officials received a draft version ahead of yesterday's release and have already implemented about half of the recommendations.

Meanwhile the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is being sued for millions of dollars over its abrupt sinking of a signed deal that would have provided floating accommodation for more than 5,000 security officers during the Games, reports the Globe and Mail.

In documents filed with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, Cruise Connections Charter Management reportedly accuses the RCMP of deliberately breaking the contract to get a better price during the current economic downturn.

The civil suit says, "the RCMP's actions were intentional and conducted in bad faith...designed to seek lower bids from Cruise Connections. Competitors".

RCMP posted a renewed request this week for cruise ship accommodations aboard vessels to be docked in Vancouver harbour before, during the several days after the Olympics, reports the newspaper.

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