Too much emphasis on Native culture and not enough on British culture

[03SVTcobra]

IMO the organizers of these games are placing way too much emphasis and importance on the Native culture of BC. Britain has had a much bigger impact on modern BC than native culture. More people in BC have British ancestry than any other country. And not to mention our flag sports the Union Jack.

It just seems very strange how the organizers for the games have forced the native culture aspect onto us. I mean Salt Lake City once had native people living in that area too, yet they didn't try and incorporate it into the games.

[agrant]

Tourism, tourism, tourism...

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by agrant

Tourism, tourism, tourism...

And the fact that if I want "British" culture, I'd go to the UK -- not Canada.

[sacrifice333]

Without giving the First Nation's people significant showing at these games, VANOC would have faced serious protests and other issues I would think.

As it is, they'll probably still have FN protests during the games.

[s211]

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

Without giving the First Nation's people significant showing at these games, VANOC would have faced serious protests and other issues I would think.

Great, so we're blackmailed, as was the case with unions and the Island Highway.

Why does this province continue to kowtow to special interest groups? Sheesh.

[osirisboy]

wholly — I agree with everything. but as for the comment by hourglass. if the government or who ever promoted our british ties I think people would come here to experience that. especially people in the northwestern US that cant afford to fly to the UK. I remember when I first went to Victoria (from living in ontario) I got the impression of it all being very English, I thought it was very different and interesting than central Canada regarding how British it was.

frankly, I have never understood how the indians were significant regarding the development of BC. Actually I have noticed the opposite where they deter development of BC. (In my opinion)

[DKaz]

Why just British? Why not the Chinese, Italians, East Indians, Spanish, etc. Did they not also contribute to modern Vancouver/BC?

[twoNeurons]

Indians are very significant to Surrey:

[Spork]

I agree. It should have been more multicultural, even more explicitly-so. Imagine the marketing message that "this is a place that everybody can come to and feel at home". With our multitude of diasporas (cultural mosaic, not melting pot!), this could be an excellent marketing message. First Nations culture is interesting, don't get me wrong, but so many cultures in one location is even more interesting!

[Distill3d]

why aren't we celebrating our British influence rather than our Aboriginal influence? simple answer, the world will get enough British influence during the 2012 summer games in London.

why aren't we celebrating our Chinese influence? again simple answer, the world got enough Chinese influence during the 2008 summer games in Beijing.

[dreambrother808]

Is it just me or is this thread basically a bunch of people acting like the games have already happened? Has anyone seen the ceremonies?
Does anyone really know what things will be like? NO. So what the hell is this "kowtowing to special interests" —?
How does anyone of us know that our British and multicultural heritage won't be represented?
Stop bashing because of your issues with native people and culture, and at least wait until the games are under way.

[Spork]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Is it just me or is this thread basically a bunch of people acting like the games have already happened? Has anyone seen the ceremonies?
Does anyone really know what things will be like? NO. So what the hell is this "kowtowing to special interests" —?
How does anyone of us know that our British and multicultural heritage won't be represented?
Stop bashing because of your issues with native people and culture, and at least wait until the games are under way.

Stop judging the functionality of my time machine. I have been to the future and I KNOW.

[city-dweller]

NO bashing here that I see. How is it bashing to talk about the native and non-native issues. Most people who self-identify as native live in urban areas like Metro Vancouver in Canada where the Olympics are being held. I would argue that native culture has been one way Canada is using to broaden its image beyond guys on horses in red, and syrup, and etc. etc... than before because most of the world still identifies with known cultural stereotypes. The cosmopolitan global village image doesn't translate well for marketing. Whereas, Canadian native art is distinctive and high quality. (doesn't have to your type of art, but it is good) As to the other cultures, I would point to the Cultural Olympiad, which has plenty of everything.

P.S. The British, (my culture) have a terrible record for discrimination and treatment of other cultures here in BC. This doesn't mean they didn't contribute positively to our culture. Most of the trained engineers that survey Metro Vancouver and worked for the transportation industry were from the UK. The foundation of this region is transportation to which we can thank the British.

[Pinion]

I don't mind the local native influence (especially since their art style is awesome) but the Inuit Inukshuk stuff doesn't make any sense beyond some marketing guru thinking they'd sell well as trinkets.

I'm not even sure what they could do to emphasize British culture. Leave that to 2012.

[djmk]

to me, vancouver is in an odd position culturally. the city only has been around for a hundred or so years but it changes almost daily with each new wave of immigration. there are so many voices in this city that almost everybody gets drowned out.

i think it is important to have a set of symbols, heroes, history, ceremonies etc (the building blocks of culture) that we all can draw on and unify around, however, technically that is impossible in this culturally diverse city.

it has seemed that the native culture, specifically the Haida culture, has been our common denominator. and i have no problems with that, especially because it is a rich and interesting culture with plenty of symbolism. also, because our Native cultures have had a "hard time" over the past century, its a way of healing..... perhaps

anyways, i agree with Pinion. Inuit belong in the Territories and Greenland. there are other local native influences to draw upon

[03SVTcobra]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Why just British? Why not the Chinese, Italians, East Indians, Spanish, etc. Did they not also contribute to modern Vancouver/BC?

Well to answer your question bluntly, no they didn't. If we're comparing their contributions to BC dating back to colonization I'd say their contributions are negligible compared to the British

[djmk]

Originally Posted by 03SVTcobra

Well to answer your question bluntly, no they didn't. If we're comparing their contributions to BC dating back to colonization I'd say their contributions are negligible compared to the British

what then about the americans? they had a huge influence during the gold rush and their arrival signaled some pretty important events such as the Oregon Treaty

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by 03SVTcobra

Well to answer your question bluntly, no they didn't. If we're comparing their contributions to BC dating back to colonization I'd say their contributions are negligible compared to the British

Chinese have made no contribution to BC dating back to colonization??

Have you even taken a course in BC's history?

[Canadian Mind]

Russians were here too back in the 1800s. Maybe some of the official meals of the games should sport popular Russian variants of Borcht and Caviar.

[mr.x]

In what aspects is Vancouver 2010 focused on native culture? What exactly?


As far as I can see, we are following the Sydney model precisely. They had an enormous emphasis on their indigenous peoples for 2000, yet I'm sure many of you hardly noticed.