Shy, boisterous and brave: Not necessarily the first description that comes to mind when we think of our Canadian athletes, yet these adjectives are commonly used to depict the Vancouver mascots: Quatchi, Miga and Sumi.
While at first glance these furry critters do not exactly inspire true patriotic feelings amongst Vancouverites, they seem to spark enthusiasm with the children who encounter them.

The varying personalities and character traits of the marketable mascots allow children the ability of identifying with their choice of character as well as the incentive to buy as much Olympic swag as their hearts desire (and as their parents’ wallets permit). Although the final net sales haven’t come in yet, it’s safe to say that the demand for cute and cuddly whatchamacallits is not diminishing and will only increase come mid-February.

However, powerful opinions still voice that the mascots make little sense in their personalities, species and appearance: Quatchi is a reclusive sasquatch who likes to travel around the world, Miga is a sea-bear (half orca, half Kermode bear) who spends her time on snowboard half pipes and Sumi is part orca, part thunderbird and part blackbird who possesses the ability to fly, but prefers to participate in the Paralympics.

The creatures have been described as being both too similar to the famous Japanese animated Pokémon and simultaneously too reminiscent of ancient First Nations legends. As well, the mascots have been noted as being too complicated to explain to visiting nations while the overall impression they give is too oblique to truly reflect Canadian nationality.

However, I think we need to revaluate what a mascot is supposed to represent. Looking back on the past two Canadian mascots, there is a tendency towards oversimplification.

The 1976 Montreal mascot was a beaver intended to represent (wait for it), beavers. Calgary’s 1988 Olympic mascots were two friendly polar bears, Hidy and Howdy, symbolizing Canadian hospitality. It’s not that these representations do not reflect aspects of Canada, but that they fail to grasp the scope of Canadian identity.

While characteristically cheesy and more than modestly cliché, these new “animals” are able to mirror the complexity and diversity of what it means to be Canadian. Their varying personalities and preferential attributes, alongside their essential histories reflect the fact that Canada cannot be summed up with a single, simple back-story.

Canada is comprised of innumerable cultures and backgrounds colliding in numerous ways. Despite their somewhat tawdry countenance, these mascots offer our host country the opportunity to define our nationality to the world.
In the same way that we are opening up our cities to numerous countries, we must also open up our identity to the world. Maybe we need to take a lesson from the kids on this one; by embracing the cute and cheesy, we may find the truth of our diverse histories.