By Alden E. Habacon
Overall, I thought the opening ceremony was pretty impressive visually.
But I've got say, other than our beloved Governor General Michaí«lle Jean, the incredible display of aboriginal culture, a lightning-quick shot of Patrick Chan, a few Asian-looking dancers, the performance of Measha Brueggergosman and Portuguese-Canadian Nelly Furtado, and a black Mountie...this was by far the whitest-looking opening ceremonies.
See also
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics: The Great White, er, Multicultural North?
It wasn't really noticeable because of the visual effects and possibly all the international athletes. But then the Olympic flag came out, carried by an all-white cast of Canadian heroes.
Don't get me wrong—I love all of them.
The picture of a white Canada was reiterated with the unveiling of the final torch bearers. Seeing Rick Hansen was really powerful. I'm a huge Wayne Gretzky fan (having lived in Edmonton during their Stanley Cup domination), but as Jian Ghomeshi tweeted: "Love Anne, Bobby et al...but maybe bit of an oversight to have not one Canadian of colour carrying flag?" Oversight? To say the least.
Does it matter?
Absolutely. Especially since Vancouver won their bid on the argument that Vancouver is the most diverse place on earth, with the highest rate of mixed-race marriage in North America, a city that is considered by many (including myself) as part of Asia (forget that "gateway to Asia" analogy—that's so 10 years ago). The ceremony was hardly representative of Canada's (and especially Vancouver's) multicultural diversity.
Listen, if you're going to reflect Canada's diversity, you can't go full out on aboriginal representation and then fail to represent the visible diversity of the local population. Vancouver is a city where "visible minority" and "ethnic minority" don't mean anything anymore, because of the sheer size of the Chinese and South Asian populations.
Oh, I can hear the producers now..."But where would we find...?" Oh no, you don't. There's at least one South Asian RCMP officer. There's gold-winning Olympic hockey player Jarome Iginla! Yes, half is better than none. In this case, token would have been better.
The point is, if you were watching the opening ceremonies on television, you wouldn't even know that it took place in the most Asian city in North America.
Have any of the producers been to a high school in Vancouver?
Alden E. Habacon is the founder of Schema Magazine (where this posting was originally published).
Comment (135)
Comments
David Suzuki
Donovan Bailey
Um, who else?
51% of Vancouver is made up of visible minorities (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=417736).. and they did nothing to represent this? Could you imagine as one of these 51%, that work here and pay taxes, sitting in your home watching this on television and feeling completely excluded from the celebration?
What a joke! The organizers should be ashamed of themselves.
That sound like such a racist statement, what is wrong with WHITE PEOPLE?
It is not like they "whites" are the majority race... I am so fed up with Americans and Canadians etc., screaming about whites being racist. Shut up already..
This CBC 'diversity manager' failed to note that there were WOMEN, Asian women, in the RCMP contingent carrying in the flag? Vancouver is NOT an Asian city. Vancouver may be a gateway to Asia but really, just how much do we 'export' to Asia through this so-called gateway?
This is just typical CBC simpering, liberal patronization.
But trying to make us guilty for obvious facts, that non-whites are much better at other games/ sports, is nothing but a political agenda Alden E. Habacon/ who wrote this article wants to push hard, in order to create antagonism between whites and non-whites.
The "target" is the distruction of the Western World/ Culture as we know.
There certainly was a lack of cultural representation and though I don't think the producers intentionally organized a predominantly "white" ceremony, they probably could have made it a LOT more interesting by putting together a more diverse and/or multi-ethnic production. And why not?
In fact, a more "colourful" display of our Canadian culture would corroborate the slam poet's, Shane Koyczan, speech about what defines Canada: "We are cultures strung together \ then woven into a tapestry \ and the design \ is what makes us more \ than the sum total of our history."
So, before you marginalize years of racial and ethnic struggle in a country we so proudly call multicultural, remember that Canada is not yet perfect and your sarcastic remark (i.e. to scan people for proper white/asian distribution) and your ignorance of the issue at hand are clear indications of how much further we really have to go.
Really? While I agree the whole thing could have been more diverse, do you think someone would be happy to be there for their skin colour rather than their achievements? To be the token ____ . Im definitely not saying there are no canadians of asian descent etc that have great achievements but you seem to be saying that THAT doesnt matter.
Nobody outside North America knows who this Gretzky guy is. What has he contributed to this world other than play hockey for money? The entire world knows who David Suzuki is. Stop living in a shell.
it is about accurate representation of our local community. if you look at the demographic cross-section of this city or even of this country, it was a fail. the absolute lack of representation sends a mixed message to the international community about our values and a very strong message to ethnic communities about where they lie on the list of priorities in this country...we appear to be unimportant enough to be omitted.
as for the comment "Can't you just enjoy your life without obsessing about skin colour?", when you live your life in a body of colour, you can't just turn it off, undo the differential treatment and negative stereotypes, or ignore the racism that affects us daily. shutting up to make other folks happy would be so very untrue to ourselves and our reality. freedom of expression is one of the great things about this country, and if a person of colour or an ally chooses to raise their voice about something they feel is systemically unjust, shutting down the conversation with an insult gets us nowhere.
You'll find that pretty much everyone in an ice hockey-playing country – which also happens to be most countries in the Winter Games – know who Wayne Gretzky is. Every Russian, Swede, Fin, Swiss, Czech, Slovak, et al. And he's likely the most important Canadian athlete in history.
Did you know who Cathy Freeman was before she lit the cauldron at the 2000 Sydney Olympics? I didn't. Did any of that matter?
It's not a matter of "proper distribution of whites to asian," its a matter of representing the host city the proper way - in its true colors. We're proud to be a mutli-cultural city and we would like the rest of the world to see a real representation of Vancouver, and living here, you can clearly see that we live in a very diverse city. In 2006, the number of visible minorities in B.C surpassed the one million mark. In Vancouver, visible minorities account for 51% of the population, so wouldn't it be fair to represent them in this opportunity to show the world what a truly multi-cultural and diverse city Vancouver is?
Instead of being so ignorant, I think you would enjoy your life a little better, if you realized the true extent of how far visible minority groups have come to be fairly represented. Your sarcastic and ignorant comment clearly indicates your lack of reality.
The patriotic, nationalistic stuff was taken too far...this is Olympics we're talking about here (you know, the international ones), not a Canada Day celebration.
Canada should leave the nationalistic crap to the Americans and try doing something original for a change.
WTF has this Alden dude been smoking?
So Vancouver, a part of Asia, is supposed to be celebrating Canada's ethnic diversity... Makes perfect sense.
There just may be a kernel of truth in the old stereotype that kooks and airy fairy, head-in-the-clouds weirdos are overrepresented in this city...
Jim Van Rassel
Coquitlam BC
______________________
Tibet, Mongolia, Nunavut have always been just full of indigenous white people?
And Chicago didn't exactly kill Obama.
Please don't take this the wrong way, I am a white immigrant to Canada and there is a lot of hidden discrimination against immigrants in Canada, as a European I have never seen or experienced this. What I do see is that Asian, Black and other minorities that have Canadian Citizenship are very WELL accepted here. Me being a white immigrant I get less chances and help from the government then people of Color, Should I start complaining about every little thing that I feel is not correct or that people of Color get more chances than me ?? No I have my pride and self-respect ! I know and experience every day that there is discrimination in Canada, So I would just say lets be happy with what we have in our personal life and consider that people of all colors white, yellow, red or black get discriminated at some point !!
I am from Alabama, USA. I stumbled upon your post while trying to find a place to view the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics. Unfortunantly, I found this site first.
After reading your article, I was prejudiced to expect some racially biased, commericalized, completely white version of what should have been a celebration of Canadian heritage in the opening ceremonies. Luckily I found my own copy of the ceremonies you described so I could judge for myself. To put it as politely as possible...
-You are a disgrace to what you country was represented to be.
Despite your assesment, I was overwhelmed by the presentation of the cultural hitory of your 'Indian' tribes. There has never been a North American Olympics ceremony that so effectively represented the "native peoples" who were the original founders and indigenous cultures of what we know how as North America. Not even Canada's own 1976 Montreal games highlighted, let alone showcased, the importance of this historical group of people.
Aside from all this generic and menial racial sh%t, you even had 'white' representatives such as the amazing Shane Koyczan demonstrating exactly why your city, and perhaps as a majority, your country has risen above this pathetic racist, classist, and ideologically seperatist way of thinking.
Through his much more carefully chosen words, I was able to easily see what represented Canadian pride. Pride in accomplishments from exploration to determination, sporting to industry. Respect for each other (and even a stranger), even if only in the form of a 'please' or a 'thank you'. A welcoming nature, drawing from it's historical and culural parts towards a greater whole. An ideal for a better future, even at the expense of not following a common trend. These are many the same things people the world over live thier lives hoping to achieve.
I'm sorry I didn't count how many "Asians",."Blacks", "Whites", and "whatever elses" were marching on camera for your country. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't count for the USA or any other country either. I was busy being transfixed by the ONLY true sign of global human unity without intended political ramifications we're able to see in this day and age... atleast without an unimaginable catastrophe serving as the catalyst.
I was busy feeling carried away with the sense of pride, respect, history, culture, and vision represented by the ceremonies. I even found myself at times thinking things such as "wow... maybe I should visit Canada and see what life is like there..."
Although who knows... Maybe you're right and if there were more Asians in the March of Nations, I'd have moved there already eh?
Sarcasm aside, I hope that this post will reach you, and you'll realize how much you're missing with your narrow and prejudged (prejudiced) view of reality. If you spend your life viewing these rare occurrences of the potential unity and goodwill of mankind as a platform for racial divisions, you're going to miss out on a lot. For your own sake, I hope you can learn to see the world without that tint.
Because there are so many of you in Vancouver? Is that all?
What else have you contributed to society here?
Guys, not everything is as clear as black and white and it shouldnt be mandatory that (as the previous poster stated) we have a token ethnicity. I think that is more insulting. To say that Donovan Bailey would have been chosen for his skin colour would be disrespectful. The fact is, Donovan is a Summer Athlete and if these were the summer games, he most definitely would have been there (along with Michael Smith, Bruni Surin and Mark Tewksbury).
I would hate to think that Barak Obama was chosen for the colour of his skin... Actually, I refuse to think that way.
Look up the word minority in an English dictionary please.
yes, we all know Iran's leaders are huge douchenozzles but I thought the olympics were supposed to be non political.
My hope is that the closing ceremonies do show Vancouver as a city of the future, a diverse, multi cultural, vibrant city, that truly welcomes the world.
While I agree that some of the names mentioned here (Suzuki, Bailey) deserved to, and should have been included in the ceremonies, I don't think that their exclusion reflects a "white" bias. As the article notes, there were many visible minorities involved in the ceremonies right from the beginning. In fact some large, caucasian Canadian cultures were noticebly left out of the ceremonies: for example, there was hardly any presence of the rich Quebecois and Francophone cultures.
http://www.slate.com/id/2244503/pagenum/all/#p2
This is the first time I've heard Vancouver described as "part of Asia," and that doesn't sit well with me. Vancouver is part of Canada, and should not be confused as being an extension of a continent that sits on the other side of the world. It's like telling Francophone Canadians that Quebec is "pretty much part of France." At some point, you, your parents, or your parents' parents made the choice to come here. They came not to live in New Asia, but to live in Canada.
I do respect your attempt to highlight the lack of Asian influence on the opening ceremony. Sure, the six flag-bearers included some interesting choices, but the final torch-bearers could not have gone any other way. Igali is the one that I would agree could've shared the cauldron-lighting moment... but then again, he already had the honour of lighting the cauldron in Surrey.
All in all, I think you should've waited until after the CLOSING ceremony to blast VANOC. Even still, in an effort to promote multiculturalism, you've coincidentally taken a step back by connoting that the "Whiteness" of the ceremony was a bad thing. It just so happens that almost all of our country's greatest and most iconic sporting figures are White. You can't blame anyone for that. When you write pieces like this, you put yourself on a slippery slope.
Okay, a little history lesson: Canada became a nation in 1867 and Asians started arriving in 1907 (that's only 40 years later!). So Asians have contributed to Canada for nearly 3/4 of its history. Asians have fought in the two World Wars along side everyone else. Asians helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Which groups were head-taxed and assimiliated while facing discrimination from the very beginning?
Why has the inclusion of the First Nations been so extraordinary? Because this is a group who has been so marginalized by Canada. Well, it may not appear this way now, but Asians have been marginalized in Canada until just recently.
So this begs this question: Yes, the First Nations community were represented, but where were the other race/colours that make up this nation?
Past Canadian Olympic host cities (Calgary and Montreal) did not have representation of Asians either. Is Vancouver like Calgary and Montreal? Which city has the largest Asian-Canadian population?
What makes people proud to be from Vancouver is because of the "cultural mosaic" everyone keeps referring to. If someone didn't know that Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Winter Games, did the opening ceremonies highlight its uniqueness?
I simply can't tell that this is an event from Vancouver. The opening ceremony could have been from any other city from the USA or Australia. Who could really tell?
Well Canada IS NOT a part of Asia, and never will be, nor is VANCOUVER. And if you consider it to be apart of Asia, maybe you better get the hell out and go back there.
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What the Winter Games are not is a truly international sporting competition that brings the best of the world together to compete, as the promotional blather would have you believe. Unlike the widely attended Summer Olympics, the winter version is almost exclusively the preserve of a narrow, generally wealthy, predominantly Caucasian collection of athletes and nations. In fact, I'd suggest that the name of the Winter Games, which start Friday, be changed. They could be more accurately branded "The European and North American Expensive Sports Festival."
Read more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR200602...
1. Is it important to accurately reflect the host city's culture and demographic makeup in the opening ceremonies?
2. (If yes, we can perhaps conclude without too much disagreement that this wasn't achieved, which then moves to the question of HOW this could have been mitigated.) How could the ceremonies have been conducted differently TO reflect Vancouver more accurately? Perhaps it was indeed the case that the Asian-Canadians on the potential list of flag/torch bearers just didn't make it high up enough on the list to have made the cut. If so, that's fair. But could there have been another way to include a more accurate depiction of what vancouver looks like and what its culture is like as a city in the opening ceremonies?