[Canadaka]

i merged this topic with this one

[Scape]

The Friend nobody likes

$1:

VANCOUVER -- He has caused quite a stir in Vancouver, this smiling figure with a green head, bulky blue body and thick legs.

Detractors say Canada's new logo for the 2010 Winter Games looks more like Gumby or Pac-Man than an Olympic icon. West Coast natives are outraged at the nod to Inuit culture. And callers are flooding radio talk shows with unfriendly comments about Ilanaaq, whose name means friend in Inuktitut.

The official emblem was revealed on Saturday night during a televised gala where Olympic organizers explained why they chose Ilanaaq over 1,600 submitted entries. The stocky figure is an inukshuk, an Inuit symbol used for centuries to point travelling Inuit to safety, said John Furlong, CEO of Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee.

The winning designer, Elena Rivera MacGregor, said Canada's hospitality served as her muse: "As Canadians, we are proud of being friendly people; you know, we're . . . non-threatening and we smile."

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge sent a recorded message praising the design. Mr. Rogge said he sneaked a peek when he was in Vancouver a few months ago and immediately fell for the figure, which he said reminded him of a hockey goalie.

"It has a warm and welcoming personality," Mr. Rogge said.

"Friendly" was the operative word of the evening, but within days, naysayers were griping about the logo's simplicity, and even questioning the accuracy of its Inuit inspiration.

One of Canada's leading experts in the Inuit stone configurations said the emblem is most definitely not an inukshuk.

For the record, said author Norman Hallendy, an inukshuk is a collection of stones assembled by the northern Inuit to serve as navigational beacons, and can take many shapes. Similar stone figures that resemble humans are called innunguaq, Mr. Hallendy stressed.

But even as an innunguaq, Ilanaaq is generating some cranky reaction, especially among West Coast natives who say the use of an Inuit icon is a slap in the face.

"It's kind of like a poke in the eye to first nations people and first nations artists," said Chief Edward John of British Columbia's First Nations Summit, which represents 150 native communities.

"Does inukshuk represent Canada?" he asked. "I hardly think so. It represents the North. Put it this way: If there were games in Yellowknife and the logo was West Coast totem poles, do you think they'd be happy up there?"

Mr. John said native groups who attended the gala were surprised when the Inuit-inspired emblem was unveiled at Vancouver's GM Place.

Yesterday, Mr. John said the group fired off a letter of complaint to the IOC.

There were other quibblers. One writer to a Vancouver paper said using the Inuit icon as an Olympic logo gives the impression that Canada is a barren, northern tundra. A caller to a radio show said Ilanaaq resembled the toy figurine Gumby, only with a rocket launcher.

"I can't help but notice the remarkable resemblance it has to Pac-Man," Chief Stewart Philip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said this week.

However, Ms. Rivera MacGregor took the complaints in stride, adding she is glad that the design has prompted intense emotional reactions. Over time, the logo will grow on people, she predicted.

A team of nine judges from Canada and abroad chose the winning entry.

Mr. Furlong of the Vancouver organizing committee also defended the logo, saying the goal was to choose a design that evoked Canadian values.

"These are Canada's Games," he said. "Not just the B.C. Games. We wanted a logo to represent that."

Mr. Furlong said he, too, expected some negative reaction. "You know, the thing is, whatever this mark was going to represent, it was going to trigger debate and discussion," he said.

"And no matter what it looked like, someone would have said: 'Why not me? Why not this? Why not that?'

"We've chosen something that we feel is connected to every Canadian, wherever they live in the country, and that was a primary objective in the competition."

As for the proper description of an inukshuk, Mr. Furlong said organizers worked with Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik, who helped explain its significance.

Organizers also noted that the Olympic logo is one person's contemporary interpretation of an Inuit tradition.

Today, inukshuk symbols dot the Canadian landscape. One, on Vancouver's First Beach, was Ms. Rivera MacGregor's inspiration.

[spikecomix]

I don't like it either. Even if "other countries don't distinguish between our regions"-- we DO. We've had at least two other Olympics that I know of (but I have a bad mind for history hahah) in other regions of Canada.

If they had to make it Native art (which I also disagree with -- it should be more focused on today and the future and... a lot of other things) there is TONS of Native art UNIQUE to our region that would have served better.

[spikecomix]

I don't see how a minority symbol represents the whole country either, frankly.

Also, it doesn't particularly appeal to my aesthetic sense >_<

[spikecomix]

But... I'm an artist!!!

BC is mountains and water, so I think a better logo could have been the flame in the shape of a maple leaf (like's been done before) over different coloured waves.

[BeaverBill]

$1:

If a logo was to be selected completely unrelated to the Olympics or Vancouver, at least pick something stylish, and something that showed off the fact that Canada is a first-world nation—clean, high-tech, modern, etc

Clean!!? You mean Victoria has stopped dumping raw sewage into the Pacific / Juan de Fuca!? (which is probably killing off the native population of Orcas)

I tried going crabbing, clamming etc. and I COULDN'T FIND A CLEAN SPOT. (It wasn't due to red tide). Fisheries Canada had almost all the area closed off around Victoria (except past Sooke), and the whole south east coast of Van. Is. I was lucky since it was just rounding the bend from winter to spring. Can you imagine summer when the population goes up due to tourism? You know you got a problem if you can only eat what comes out of a supermarket.

[BeaverBill]

PS. I like it (my cynicism got the better of me)

[Canadaka]

$1:

There isn't even a symbol that would represent B.C, never mind the whole of Canada.

... the maple leaf?

[Canadian_Mind]

lily lily:

Nothing will ever appeal to the aesthetic sense of everybody. If it did, it would be pretty bland.

There isn't even a symbol that would represent B.C, never mind the whole of Canada.

could have the native version of the orca leaping over the island on the left, to mountians and dessert from the okanogan and the kootneys on the right, with vancouver and the mainland in the middle with the giant flag pole in surry sticking out of the place.

[Donny_Brasco]

I can not think of a symbol that represents just Canada that is unique to Canada alone besides this one (and perhaps the maple leaf).

It is a cute, simple symbol that has a deeper meaning.

I can see a mascot dressed like that handing out balloons to kids.

That totem pole hopping around the Olympic village might scare the children, it kind of scares me...

There will be a million Canadian flags there; another maple leaf is not really needed.

I think this symbol is a good choice, it is simple and easy to identify and no one will think that is an Australian or Egyptian or Brazilian figure.

And there is no way whomever choose this was going to make everone happy.

[Canadian_Mind]

would that be the beaver?

[spikecomix]

Donny_Brasco Donny_Brasco:

I can see a mascot dressed like that handing out balloons to kids.

I'm sorry... I BURST out laughing when I read that. A mascot that looked like that would look just like a very very happy infernal from WoW Run for your liiiivvvesss from colourful DOOM!

[vansterdam]

ive been running this poll over at http://2010.dailyvancouver.com about the logo and it's getting a ton of response. we have a good thread going and would love to get your input too. thx.

[twister]

how about this.. flip it upside down.. and you get Bunny on a snowboard.....LOL

[twister]

thought since the olympics ar 3 days away or so... I'd dig out this topic...