=AtG=

I always cringe when Canada releases something that supposedly exemplifies Canadian pride.

One of our stereotypes is that we’re humble. You can’t be proud about being humble, that doesn’t make any sense! (Whether or not the stereotype has merit is a debate for another day)

Plus our attempts to find a national identity are always cringeworthy, because part of our “brand” is that we’re multicultural. We don’t have any “one” national identity. That defeats the purpose of multiculturalism. (Disclaimer: Not all Canadians received that memo. Rural Canadians and Quebecois separatists tend to be the most egregious offenders of this stereotype)

So the logic goes: what do all Canadians have in common, regardless of where they or their ancestors came from?

Shitty, shitty winters.

Pros/Cons of this video:

Pros:

• Despite the thumbnail, white men are not the only people represented in this Team Canada video. Although still no First Nation athletes that I could see. Men and women, white people and people of colour, all represented!
• Fire in our hearts/ice in our veins contrast managed to avoid problematic rhetoric!
• It is about empowering Canadians rather than putting down our competitors!

Cons:

• Can we please stop defining our identity by how much snow we get? That’s going to get awkward in a few decades when global climate change makes us a tropical paradise.* Plus the northern uStates sometimes have comparable winters.
• The winter depicted was still an arctic winter. Mainland winters don’t look anything like that. Coastal winters definitely don’t look like that. I have not and probably won’t in the foreseeable future ride a sled pulled by frickin’ dogs or swim in the Arctic sea.
• They’re trying to depict our athletes as being badass because they train in the Arctic… but as far as I know, most Olympic athletes train in a large variety of environments, not just the ones they live in, and I am positive that our competitors aren’t the only ones training in the cold.

Stay frosty, I guess.

-Shiv

*Not guaranteed to actually happen but a girl can dream.

EDIT:

Totally forgot about this video. I can be pretty proud about this one, actually.