Quote:
Originally Posted by Hourglass
Seriously dude, this is verging on sensitive territory.
If you want to give the British "credit," you should include less savory things such as the introduction of smallpox and other infectious diseases to an advanced and thriving aboriginal culture, and seriously discriminatory policies against people of Chinese descent that lasted well into the 20th century. Check out http://sen.parl.gc.ca/vpoy/english/Special_Interests/speeches/Speech%20-%20AAAS%20Toronto.htm if you want to find out just how discriminatory those policies were. Maybe one of the reasons why all the "founding fathers" of BC were British was because of minor points such as the fact that BC was a British colony at the time and Asians were completely disenfranchised, hmm?
Meantime, in the context of the 2010 Olympics, you should be asking yourself what is uniquely **CANADIAN** culture? While Canada owes its legal system and rule of law to its British heritage, it sure ain't "British" "culture" that people think about when they think about Canada. Rather it's the rich First Nations heritage and the multicultural diversity that defines Canada and BC -- of which British, Chinese and numerous other cultures continue to play a part.
To try to compare what culture has contributed "more" and who is taking "credit" for what is a farcical discussion that does injustice to all cultures and ethnicities who have contributed to Canada's cultural identity, fabric and freedom.
Enough said. |
Theres nothing wrong with debating which culture has contributed more to BC. Although I think the clear winner is Britain. Look at all the names of the cities in the lower mainland Langley, Surrey, Victoria, Richmond, New Westminster, Burnaby, all are very British names. The games are more about what is uniquely BC rather than uniquely Canada. Montreal integrated it's french heritage into it's games. When Calgary hosted the games it took a new, fresh, modern approach although it did also pay homage to it's prairie heritage. Both cities had native indians living there at some point in the past yet they weren't incorporated into the games.
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