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What's the National Sport of Canada?
The game commonly known as ice hockey is hereby recognized and declared to be the national winter sport of Canada and the game commonly known as lacrosse is hereby recognized and declared to be the national summer sport of Canada. Ice hockey is the national game of Canada. It is listed as Canada’s national winter sport and LaCrosse is listed as Canada’s national summer sport.
- The most common sports in Canada are ice hockey, lacrosse, gridiron football, soccer, basketball, curling, and baseball.
- In 1994 Parliament passed the National Sports of Canada Act which declared lacrosse to be ‘Canada’s National Summer Sport’, with ice hockey as the National Winter Sport.
- Lacrosse, a sport with Indigenous origins, is Canada’s oldest sport.
- Lacrosse was played by First Nations peoples before the arrival of European colonists.
- Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in an indoor or outdoor rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent’s net to score goals
Canada is a country that at its genesis was comprised of more than two cultures, each of which had its own unique language and set of traditions. Although these cultures were united into a single state, there has never been a common ethno linguistic quality or shared past on which the country could found a nation (Des Granges 8). This has manifested itself in constant efforts by the state to construct a pan-Canadian nation that can encompass all people within the country’s vast territory (Des Granges 8).
One of the most consistent mediums used to create a nation has been sport, most notably lacrosse. A traditional game of the Aboriginal peoples of the Plains and eastern Woodlands, lacrosse was the most popular sport in North America at the time of European contact (Jette 14). Through a process of amateurization and codification described by Michael A. Robidoux, the game was appropriated by non-Aboriginal Canadians and used to define the Canadian nation. This is represented in the National Sports Act of Canada (1994), which designates a modernized version of lacrosse one of the country’s national sports. This article draws on the research of Benedict Anderson, who argues that nations are social constructs considered to be homogenous by their members.
It discusses the role of sport in the creation and perpetuation of national identities and describes the role of lacrosse in the development of Canadien and later Canadian identity. It then explains the process by which lacrosse was amateurized, modernized and appropriated, illustrates how the National Sports Act created an imagined Canada and finally, it outlines how representations of lacrosse in the Canadian Museum of Civilization fail to contextualize the sport in terms of other socio-economic and cultural shifts throughout Canadian history.
Sport and Nation-building in Canada Canada is a country that at its genesis was comprised of more than two cultures, each of which had its own unique language and set of traditions. Although these cultures were united into a single state, there was never a common ethno linguistic quality or shared past on which the country could found a nation (Des Granges 8). In rejecting the traditional “nation-to-state” model found in England and France (where Canada receives its European heritage), Canada has been the site of constant efforts to construct a pan-Canadian nation that can encompass all people within the state’s vast territory (Des Granges 8).
One of the most successful attempts to create a nation has been through the use of sport. Canadian historian Michael A. Robidoux, who has studied the history and development of hockey in Canada, argues that sport has been the most consistent expression of Canadian nationalism since Confederation (Robidoux 209). Similarly, academics Frey and Eitzen suggest that, while sport may be based upon competition, in giving diverse populations something to share in the name of national solidarity, sport can “counteract internal racial, ethnic, regional and class diversity and conflict [and] contribute to a national identity or sense of nationalism that temporarily overrides differences”
AAP Athlete Assistance Program
AAU Amateur Athletic Union of Canada
ABC American Broadcasting Company
ASC Aboriginal Sport Circle
AWAD Athlete(s) with a disability
BASM British Association of Sports Medicine
CAAWS Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity
CAC Coaching Association of Canada
CAD Canadian Dollars
CAN Fund Canadian Athletes Now Fund
CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CCES Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CFLRI Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute
CFTC Children’s Fitness Tax Credit
CGC Commonwealth Games Canada
CGC IDS Commonwealth Games Canada International Development through Sport
CICS Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat
CIHR Canadian Institutes of Health Research
COA Canadian Olympic Association
COC Canadian Olympic Committee
CODA Calgary Olympic Development Association
COF Canadian Olympic Foundation
CP-ISRA Cerebral Palsy International Sport and Recreation Association
CPC Canadian Paralympic Committee
CS4L Canadian Sport for Life
CSC Canadian Sport Centre
CSDP Commonwealth Sport Development Program
CSI Canadian Sport Institute
CSP Canadian Sport Policy
CTV Canadian Television Network
DMWG Deputy Minister Working Group
FACE Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence
FCFA Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
FIFA Fédération internationale de football association
FINA Fédération internationale de natation
FISU Fédération internationale du sport universitaire
FPTSC Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport Committee GSS General Social Survey
HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
IAAF International Association of Athletics Federation
IBSA International Blind Sport Association
IDS International Development through Sport
IF International Sport Federation
IICGADS International Intergovernmental Consultative Group on Anti-Doping in Sport
INAS-FID International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability
IOC International Olympic Committee
IOSD International Organizations of Sports for the Disabled
IPC International Paralympic Committee
ISDO Indigenous Sport Development Officer
ISRC Interprovincial Sport and Recreation Council
IWAS International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport Association
IWG International Working Group on Women and Sport
LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered persons
LTAD Long-Term Athlete Development
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MSO Multi-Sport/Service Organization
NAIG North American Indigenous Games
NFC National Fitness Council
NFL National Football League
NGO Non-Government Organization
NOC National Olympic Committee
NSERC Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
NSO National Sport Organization
NWT Northwest Territories
OCASI Ontario Council for Agencies Serving Immigrants
OCOG Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games
OCOL Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
OTP Own the Podium
PAGS Pan American Games Society
PARC Federal-Provincial/Territorial Physical Activity and Recreation Committee
PASM Physical Activity and Sport Monitor
P.A.Y. Physically Active Youth
P.L.A.Y. Promoting Life-Skills in Aboriginal Groups
PSO Provincial Sport Organization
PTASB Provincial/Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies
RTE Road to Excellence
RTP Right to Play
SCRI Sport Canada Research Initiative
SDP Sport for Development and Peace
SFAF Sport Funding and Accountability Framework
SPARC Sport, Physical Activity, and Recreation Committee
SPIN Sport Programs in Inner City Neighbourhoods
SPRI Sport Participation Research Initiative
SSHRC Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
UK Sport United Kingdom Sport
UN United Nations
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNOSDP United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace
USA United States of America
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VANOC 2010 Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
WAAF Women’s Amateur Athletic Federation
WADA World Anti-Doping Agency
WOAW Women Organizing Activities for Women
YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association
YWCA Young Women’s Christian Association