Chapter 5 RACE AND ETHNICITY IN CANADIAN SPORT

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Chapter 5RACE AND ETHNICITY IN CANADIAN SPORT
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Pride in ones roots is essential to finding
ones voice.Spence, 1999, p. 17
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Ethnicity refers to the values, beliefs, and
behaviours we share in common with a subcultural
group to which we most closely identify based on
common country of origin, language, religion, or
cultural traditions (Hutchison, 1988)
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• CULTURAL PLURALISM
• Support newcomers in preserving cultural identity
  part of cultural practice remains intact
  (Canadian approach Multiculturalism Act, 1988)

• MELTING POT
• Expect newcomers to shed unique cultural
  practices, adopt new ones based on values and
  beliefs of host country (US approach-
  assimilation)

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Whitestream sport

• Existing sport system is primarily structured by,
  and most effective for, individuals who align
  with white, European values

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• Marginality theory
• Poverty plays a role in limiting access to
  mainstream sport for some minority ethnic groups

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• Ethnicity theory
• Different value systems of immigrant Canadians
  can lead to
• different preferences for sport
• different ways of organizing sport
• different ways of playing sport

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IMMIGRATION TRENDS

• Where did immigrants come from and why?

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Where did they come from?

• Colonial Britain and France
• Late 20th early 21st century former Soviet
  Union, Eastern Bloc, South Asia
• Early 3rd millenium Eastern Europe, Middle
  East, Far East, Central and South America

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What brought them here?

• Better economic life
• Jobs
• Freedom from oppression

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Ethnic Minority People and Sport in Canada

• New people introduce new sports e.g. tai chi
  and karate
• Participating in dominant group sports assists
  new people in adapting
• Taking part in dominant group sports allows
  newcomers to be accepted
• Ethnic sports associations allow minorities to
  feel pride, acceptance

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• Barriers to sports participation in Canada
• Poverty
• Race

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• Racism . . . is the uncritical acceptance of a
  negative social definition of a colonized or
  subordinate group typically identified by
  physical features. . . . These racialized groups
  are believed to lack certain abilities or
  characteristics, which in turn characterizes them
  as culturally and biologically inferior. (Carl
  James, 1995, p.37)

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How whitestream sports affects minority
participants

• Differential treatment of individuals
• Systemic racism e.g. restricting funding to
  sports played internationally or in Olympics
• Discomfort experienced by marginalized people
• Using Indian names or mascots for sports teams

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Mascots

• Discuss the use of Mascots for professional
  teams.e.g. ?

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• Racial Patterns in Canadian Sport
• 1835 Black jockeys banned Niagara Turf Club
• 1800s Aboriginals banned excluded from amateur
  sports
• 1913 Blacks prohibited from competing in
  amateur boxing
• 1945 Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in
  professional baseball in Montreal
• 1978 Warren Moon joins Edmonton Eskimos in CFL
  after being ignored in US draft
• 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  entrench equality rights

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• Institutionalized racism Rules of mainstream or
  whitestream sport have been primarily shaped by
  individuals of white European heritage, in ways
  that privilege their traditions, practices,
  meanings, and sport structures
• Individualized racism Differential treatment of
  individuals, by race

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Race-Structured Sport Systems

• Opportunities for sport, created by and for
  racial groups outside mainstream society,
• provided organizers with the opportunity to
  assign their own meaning to sport and to develop
  traditions in keeping with their own cultural
  group
• created opportunities for marginalized groups to
  play sports outside the mainstream group
• e.g. North American Indigenous Games

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• Race-Structured sport systems Are they reverse
  discrimination?
• Seen as necessary part of providing equality
  rights
• Until whitestream sport is truly inclusive,
  race-structured opportunities should be provided

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• To begin to resolve the issue, we need
• clear definition of racism and discrimination
  that everyone associated with sport can
  understand
• clearly articulated ideas about how everyone
  should respond when these things happen