Columnists

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Who do we think we are?

CANADIANS, and everybody else, might be about to find out

Posted: 02/12/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

The Olympic flame has yet to be lit, but already an intriguing question is being posed: 'Who do these Canadians think they are?'

VANCOUVER -- The Olympic flame has yet to be lit, but already an intriguing question is being posed: "Who do these Canadians think they are?"

Ponder that for a second; let it resonate.

Because it's kind of eye-opening, actually, to get a glimpse of how Canadians are viewed by the outside world that is now descending on Vancouver.

The other day, for example, at a press conference featuring Olympic organizers, came the following question that is already surfacing as a theme of the 2010 Games:

"I'm just curious how you've seen the lead-up to these Games," a reporter asked VANOC chief executive John Furlong, "... this sort of new Canadian attitude towards winning. How has that shaped being Canadian internationally?"

Wait a minute. Is that a backhanded insult? Do you think anyone would ask an American or German or Chinese official about a "new attitude towards winning?"

So perhaps here's a better question: "What does the world think of us?"

Chances are, in a broad, generalized sense, they think we're peacekeepers. We enjoy the game of ice hockey. We live in an often-frozen environment. We're polite.

In other words, we're the world's wallflowers -- nice, quiet, reserved. And, apparently, not winners. Or worse, not wanting to win. That's not our nation's perceived character, given the much-debated reaction to Canada's Own the Podium program, which boldly -- some have said brazenly -- declared a goal to capture the Olympic medal race for the first time in our country's history.

Furlong's short answer to the reporter's question was: "I really like it."

The longer answer revolved around Team Canada's gold-medal victory at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake; how, after 50 years, a nation that for so long has tied its identity and self-worth to the game of hockey finally celebrated what we believed was our rightful place atop the world.

"When it happened," Furlong said, "it was transformational in this country. You came home and it was just extraordinary how people were feeling about that success.

"And I think a lot of us realized that it's fun to get out in front once in awhile, to get on the podium and to be seen to be the best.

"And we found another thing out: that when you're in these venues of other countries watching the Games when the home team comes across the finish line and the flag is raised and you hear people singing the national anthem and they're in tears... it creates a certain kind of magic."

"You know," Furlong added, "we've never been comfortable at getting up on the podium and calling ourselves better than anyone else. I think we like to be, but we don't really like saying it. So I think the country is kind of interested in getting to a place where we're neck-and-neck with the powerful countries like the United States and Germany and Russia and Norway and Austria.

"We'll see what happens, but I think the country is enjoying it. We are."

In fact, Chris Rudge, the Canadian Olympic Committee's highest-ranking official, openly pondered if the lasting legacy of the Vancouver Games wouldn't come in the form of venues or economic spinoff, but in the more ethereal impact of national identity. Or how the world views Canadians as a whole.

"The talk about OTP (Own the Podium) was, 'Aren't you guys being a little cocky?' " Rudge said. " 'Isn't this a little arrogant for Canada?' No, it's not. Being self-confident and being the nice people we've always been at Games, these things aren't mutually exclusive. You can be both. You can win and be aggressive, and win with grace and humility, the way Canadians always have. But let's do it more often... as often as we can."

Face it, there is clearly a perception in the international community that Canadians are, well, doormats. Polite doormats, but doormats nonetheless.

Who do we think we are? Good question.

Fittingly, this being Canada and all, the most telling answer might come from, of all places, an old goaltender.

"Canada is likely to do really well this time," former Montreal Canadiens great Ken Dryden opined in Wednesday's New York Times. "In the past, Canada would always win a couple of medals, but you were never sure who; it just somehow happened. That's the way it was decade after decade, winter or summer.

"But this time I think it's going to be different," the Liberal MP added, "and if we do dramatically better, it will be a very good reflection of where we are as a country, but don't quite know it. The Canada we are today is really much different from the Canada of our mythologies and storytellers. 'Typically Canadian, eh?' That's the old myth -- that horrible arms-length put-down, the sense that somehow it's just not going to turn out."

Dryden should know. After all, he was at the forefront of another defining moment in Canadian history, the Summit Series of 1972, a watershed moment for this country's post-Second World War generation, tapping a hidden reservoir of passion that triggered a groundswell of otherwise dormant and stoic patriotism.

History records that the '72 Series was a spontaneous, organic outpouring of emotion born of both pride and fear, rarely seen before or since.

So perhaps over the next three weeks in Vancouver, the mirror in which Canadians view themselves -- or how others view us -- will be redefined. Or evolved.

How, or how much, remains to be seen.

Because there's every chance that Canada won't win the most medals at these Games. That was a stated goal, never a guarantee.

But wouldn't it be nice (just like us) when the Vancouver torch is extinguished that the residue of the flame might be that Canadians like to win, that our Olympians will make it their goal to win, or that we won't apologize for winning?

Apparently, much of the rest of the world considers that a curious notion. A new attitude.

Who do we think we are? Perhaps, just perhaps, we're about to find out together.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 12, 2010 C1

(You must be logged in to post your reaction)

Your reaction?

More Columnists

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.