Christine Zachary-Deom wiped a tear from her cheek as she watched Olympian Alwyn Morris standing on the bed of a pick-up truck, torch held high for all to see.
“This is a torch to light your dreams … and in 20 years, you could be holding your own,” hometown hero Morris told the huge crowd of mostly children gathered in the Kahnawake schoolyard.
“That’s what’s important, to reignite the passion for sports in the kids,” Zachary-Deon said as two of her granddaughters clutched homemade torches made out of paper and coloured tissue.
A crowd of several hundred people lined a section of the Old Malone Highway on Tuesday in anticipation of the passing of the Olympic torch relay.
Students from Kateri School and small fry from the Step by Step Child Family Centre were herded along the street by parents and teachers to cheer on one of Kahnawake’s own, canoeist Morris, who competed in the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Games and won two medals in 1984.
“Double longjohns and underwear, something to fill out the suit,” Morris joked of what he was wearing under his white Olympic costume with the distinctive blue and green Vancouver 2010 logo.
At 52, this is his third torch relay. Morris ran the torch in 1988 and was part of the Athens 2004 world tour.
Tuesday’s passing of the torch through the Mohawk reserve on the South Shore was a truncated version of what was supposed to be.
In place of five runners and a 1,500-metre journey, the relay was cut down to Morris alone.
The RCMP are following the flame across Canada to ensure safety, and there was some controversy in Kahnawake over having federal agents on reserve land.
In the end, a deal was brokered between the RCMP and the local authorities, and the Peacekeepers blocked traffic and held back crowds. The shortened relay was announced at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“That controversy was the voices of a few and not the opinion of the community,” said Rhonda Kirby, part of the Mohawk Spirit organizing committee.
“It hurts us that this had to happen at this event of peace and friendship,” said Arlene Diabo. “A lot of elders live on the old highway – (a cancelled portion of the route) – and this was their only chance to see the torch.”
“I always thought the Olympics was not political, but this is more political than ever,” said Norman Stacey.
Despite concerns that protest would mar the relay event, only eight protesters showed up, some bearing signs saying the Olympic torch was not welcome, of whom police said only two lived on the reserve.
At 12:06 p.m., Morris’s Bombardier-built torch was lit with a brazier brought by police escort, and he began his 300-metre jaunt from the grocery store to Karonhianonhnha school.
Six minutes later it was over, and he stood on the truck with elder Joe Jacobs for a blessing.
“I encourage all the young people here to one day go to the Olympics and bring home more gold than Alwyn,” Jacobs said.
After posing for pictures by camera-toting fans, Morris’s torch was used to light another brazier and the flame left the reserve in a Peacekeeper cruiser.