SIX NATIONS INDIAN RESERVE, Ont. - The Olympic torch's journey across Canada was forced yet again to take a detour in the face of aboriginal opposition to the Games, with an Ontario First Nation rerouting its relay amid a protest from a splinter group in the community.
While the torch still made an appearance on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford in southern Ontario, the original plan to run the flame through the reserve -- supported by the elected band council -- was altered at the 11th hour.
Instead, the torch was taken directly to a bingo hall on the reserve for a celebration during which some two dozen torchbearers circled the hall with the flame.
Although the splinter group of Six Nations protesters did not succeed in blocking the torch from entering the reserve -- a stated aim of their demonstration -- the fact the original relay plan was scrubbed and the celebration relocated had them calling their protest a success.
"It's the first time where any person who has stood up against these torch and Olympics has actually had a success in being able to move the celebration," protest spokeswoman Missy Elliott said.
"Different protesters have been able to hold it off for an hour or some time but it's never been moved, so this is a huge significance."
Many, however, were thrilled the flame made it onto the reserve.
"I think it helps bring communities together, to see something like this, and I'm thrilled with it," said Barbara Bomberry, whose daughter, a championship lacrosse coach and player, was one of the torchbearers.
Former Six Nations chief and honorary elder David General blessed the flame.
"Images of this evening will burn lasting memories in the minds and spirits of everyone in attendance," he said.
"Though the flame will depart . . . it leaves embers that can be fanned to ignite the spirit of our youth to pursue athletic and sporting dreams at all levels -- national, international and Olympic."
The torch has run into aboriginal opposition on several occasions.
On Dec. 8, the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee agreed to drop the usual RCMP escort for the Olympic flame as it passed through a Mohawk reserve. Games organizers made the concession after a flurry of negotiations with community members who were upset by the prospect of a non-aboriginal police force patrolling their territory.
The agreement allowed the flame to pass through a community that played a role in the Oka crisis, a tense summer-long standoff between aboriginals and police in 1990.
Last Thursday in Toronto about 100 protesters rang bells, drummed and chanted "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" -- the rallying cry for those who protest the Games on the basis that they're being held on unceded aboriginal land in B.C. The group took over a downtown intersection, forcing organizers to alter the torch route.
In Montreal a week earlier, protesters succeeded in delaying the arrival of the flame about an hour as about 100 people took over the main stage set up at a square.
While Six Nations parks and recreation director Cheryl Henshaw wouldn't comment on what role the protest played in changing the plan Monday, she did admit to some security concerns. Holding the relay in one location made it more of a community event, she added.
"We found a better venue which is going to allow the supporters who come out for the event to basically stand in one place and see the torchbearers ... carry the flame," Henshaw said before the torch's arrival.
The Six Nations reserve at the heart of Monday's protest is no stranger to controversy.
First Nations members there are also involved in a land dispute over a former housing development on the outskirts of Caledonia. The land has been occupied by Six Nations protesters since February 2006 and has been the site of a number of violent confrontations between aboriginals and town residents.
The Ontario Superior Court issued an injunction in March 2006 ordering the protesters to stop interfering with construction on the site.
The provincial police raided the site one month later, with about 180 officers, and arrested about 16 people, but the protesters amassed and the police were overrun and forced to retreat.
The province of Ontario purchased the land in July 2006 for $12.3 million and land claim talks are ongoing.
The Six Nations protesters said participating in the relay plays into what they say is Canada's attempt to hide the negative image the country has on the world stage over its treatment of aboriginals.
The Olympic flame is passing through more than 1,000 communities on a 106-day journey before arriving in time for the Vancouver Games on Feb. 12.
