Olympic ceremonies – a distinctly Canadian failure

Posted by on Feb 13, 2010 in Olympics | Comments Off

Admittedly, it’s hard to follow the show put on by the Chinese two years ago but last night’s opening Olympic ceremonies were disappointing in a distinctly Canadian way.

The whole Olympic movement has been heavily based around the Native Canadians. This, in it’s own right, feels artificial in its sincerity. Whenever Canada wants to put forward an international face, they fall back on the image of Canada as a wild and free land full of fur traders and Natives. For whatever reason, we feel that our modern image as a true multicultural, just society should take a back seat to Totem poles and pictures of distant mountains.

This is unfortunate.

With all of the modern problems that Canada has effectively addressed – health care, education, gay rights to name a few – it’s a real shame that we can’t present our true modern face. Our heritage should not be forgotten. I agree. But we should strive to look forward, not backwards.

For example, the Cirque du Soleil is a fantastic Canadian success story. They are wonderfully creative and distinctly Canadian artists. Had a resource such as the Cirque been used for last night’s show, they could have hit a real home run. It would have been modern, entertaining and forward looking. Sure, there would certainly have been a nod to our heritage but not the kind of naval gazing that went on.

Canada has a fantastic modern urban society that was totally ignored last night. My personal story – likely shared by at least a few hundred thousand kids my age – is one of a diverse ethnic schooling (most of my closest friends in Toronto were not white for example) filled with late night hockey in a modern city. I just couldn’t connect with fiddling, the prairies or “Welcome Poles” with their extended arms. Looking at the people chosen to light the flame, I imagine they would be of the same opinion. Simply put, i didn’t see myself at all in last night’s ceremonies.

The Olympics are the largest stage in the world on which to put your best foot forward; to show the world how far you’ve come and how much you’ve improved. Not just in sports but in all aspects of life. It’s a real shame that Canada didn’t take the opportunity to heart. Instead of showing our modern success stories, we chose to project an image of Canada that, while accurate, is not as valuable as the one most Canadians would recognize as their own.