It must be the pits being Don Cherry at times. The self-appointed ambassador of the Canadian brand of hockey stirred up a rather considerable hornet’s nest last week. Never a fan of pure skill, rather a proud booster of physical, courageous, brave play, including fisticuffs, Cheerry enraged the Toronto Russian community by denigrating members of the Russian Olympic hockey team, calling them quitters. In the democratic environment of Canada, with free press and freedom of expression expat Russians were rapid to react. Maia Master, publisher of the Russian Express newspaper was particularily incensed, demanding an official apology, and insisting that the members of Toronto’s burgeoning Russian community are all hard workers, that in a country built upon multiculturalism a commentator on the national television network should not be allowed to use such language. However, it is necessary to go beyond the obvious emotional reaction and patriotic prattle. Canada historically is a country built upon the shoulders of immigrants. The vast majority of them have been economic immigrants, looking to further their prospects in a new land. Wilfrid Laurier - the PM who declared the 20th century to belong to Canada - looked to Eastern Europe for manpower to populate the prairies. His Immigration minister Clifford Sifton felt that a strong sturdy Slavic peasant was ideal for such a role. And the slavs were ready, willing and able, desirous to throw off ther shackles of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The wave of Ukrainians, Czechs, Doukhobors and Russians swelled before WW I; after the war many more displaced Eastern Europenas fled the yoke of communism, arriving on Canadian shores. It is well known that the prairies are a hotbed of Canadian hockey, and indeed, looking into the past, who can forget the contibutions in the NHL of men named Barilko, Nesterenko, Sawchuk and Mikita - slavs all. Even Wayne Gretzky traces his roots to Belarus, suggesting quite obviously, that there is no stereotypical background for Canadian hockey. Indeed, as the bombastic Grapes suggests, it is that competitiveness that an immigrant must display in a harsh new world that leads to success, whether on the homestead and its frozen pond or on Olympic ice. Ms. Master also chose to ignore the fact that all Russian success in Canada has not entirely been as a result of hard work. It is difficult to fathom how in only the ten years since the collapse of the Soviet Union Russians are able to meet the strict economic criteria for immigration. The rouble’s exchange rate is ludicrously low - and to honestly amass the fortune required to gain economic immigrant entry into Canad these days is not in the realm of possibility for most immigrants, no matter how well qualified. The Russian mafia has long been a major player in North America (look at New York’s Brighton Beach), and the palatial mansions rising in the Bridle Path area housing Russian “businessmen” boggle the mind. The Promenade Mall’s lingua franca is Russian, the parking lot is conspicuously filled with expensive late model SUVs. Even in Don Mills the slavic influence is felt, perhaps because of proximity to the sluggishly flowing Don river, reminding Russians of home. Bus shelters in Downsview have signs in cyrillic, claiming the area is nazha rajona - our region. And so on. Certainly many immigrants have earned success. However, for Cherry, and countless other non-economic immigrants, such as the political refugees fleeing communism, this ostentation is offensive. So is the imperial attitude, taken by not only Russian athletes but their apologists. The Russians are still looking for unfair advantage in athletics, as the Olympic doping scandal showed. The petulance displayed after not making it to the gold medal hockey game, and the threat to boycott the final cermonies are glaring unsportsmanlike actions. On a final note, the apology demanded by Master would never be granted in Russia. In fact, under Putin the constraints on freedom of expression and freedom of the press have increased, not abated. Journalists are still censured, arrested and threatened in Russia if the do not toe the party line. The era of communism may be over, officially in Russia, but Cold War attitudes remain, now expressed in Toronto. No matter if one agrees with Don Cherry or not, the very fact that he can ramble and rant openly demonstrates that Canadian society is more open, more democratic, providing all with the chance to strive for gold. The self-professed hard working Russian nouveau riche could and should remember their privileged position in the land of the maple leaf. Or should polite Canadians do as hot headed Latinos demanded from americans a generation ago -Yankee go home? Vasja - domoi often sounds good, too. TÕNU NAELAPEA

Arvamus

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