Sport, Identity and Social Division in Canada / Sport, identités et clivages sociaux au Canada (review)

In 2005, the International Journal of Canadian Studies, together with the Research Centre for Sport in Canadian Society at the University of Ottawa, called for papers that reflected ‘the diversity of experiences, inequalities and representations of sport in Canada from historical, sociological, political, anthropological and ethnographical perspectives.’ The editors of this special volume posed a number of questions, the most important of which was, ‘What is the role of sport in both the creation and the reproduction of identities and inequalities in Canada?’ This collection of articles is the result.

The themes are wide-ranging and explored through the methodologies of a number of disciplines. Heather Mair looks at the link between local and national identities in curling to conclude that it exists at one level as a community leisure activity and at another as a an increasingly professionalized and commercialized sport. Russell Field shows how a professional hockey franchise, the Toronto Maple Leafs, successfully exploits nostalgia for the team that was seen every Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada. Although the team was moving from the iconic Maple Leaf Gardens to the Air Canada Centre to maximize profits (which was the same reason Conn Smythe built the Gardens during the 1930s), the change was not presented as a business decision. Rather, the franchise sought to reinforce the belief that hockey is central to the Canadian identity and was aided by the cbc, which televised the event.

The most interesting articles address the reproduction of minority identities through sport.

P. David Howe discusses the slow accommodation of disabled athletes to illustrate how social divisions can be broken down through sport. The issue of sport and sexuality was picked up in an article on the Gay Games III in Vancouver. It explores the strategies adopted by gay athletes to gain legitimacy. Courtney Mason looks at the reconstruction of a Scottish-Canadian identity in eastern Ontario in ‘The Glengarry Highland Games, 1948–2003.’ Glengarry County was first settled by Scots in the 1780s, but in the late nineteenth century, the out-migration of their descendents and the migration of French Quebeckers into the region changed the ethnic composition dramatically. In an effort to attract tourists and strengthen the Scottish-Canadian identity in Glengarry, the Highland Games were created. Although Mason does not define the nature of that identity, beyond the symbols and activities of the Old Country (bringing to mind Spirit of the West’s song, ‘The Old Sod’), the paper explores how a minority identity is expressed around the event.

Janice Forsyth provides an overview of the growing division between ‘Whites’ and Aboriginal peoples after the creation of the Indian Act; sport became a vehicle of social repression, as the dominant culture attempted to assimilate the First Nations through means including the introduction of Euro/Canadian sports at residential schools while traditional recreational practices were discouraged. Forsythe also shows how the European Canadians picked up Aboriginal games, such as lacrosse, and transformed it into a national sport. But this process of transformation was not a one-way street, although this article does not provide the detail to illustrate this point. In the Aboriginal community of Hobbema, ab, teams, named the Hawks, used hockey to reinforce their distinct identity when they played teams from the surrounding area. As well, the Panee Agriplex was built for rodeo events. Aboriginal cowboys took part in local and international competitions and a Native Rodeo Association was created. Todd Buffalo, from Hobbema, said, ‘Rodeo has become part of our heritage. Part of our ability as athletes is to be able to compete one on one with the animal that was set here on earth by the Creator . . . We have a bond . . . Once you’re a cowboy you have to be proud to be a cowboy, but most important, you have to be proud to be an Indian cowboy.’

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