Some are more sad than others.
In June, as a nation we mourned the loss of the RCMP officers in Moncton. There is little else that can bring a community, province and country together like the loss of those that serve and protect us every day. Sometimes that is taken for granted.
Thousands of people reached out to the families of those lost by donating money and sending condolences. It showed how big a heart this country has.
We will forever remember what happened in Moncton and hope that it never happens again, but if something does happen again we will be there for each other.
Not to downplay that event, but only to draw a comparison, sport is one of the biggest parts of our society that brings Canada together on a regular basis. You aren’t cheering for the Montreal Canadiens, while your neighbour supports the Toronto Maple Leafs, you’re all under one banner, supporting your team, your country.
We’ve had some great successes as a nation in the last year, some that aren’t acknowledged as much as others.
Right now Eugenie Bouchard is making a named for herself as a Canadian tennis player. She advanced to the semi-finals at the Australia Open and French Open this year. Today she plays Angelique Kerber of Germany in the quarterfinal at Wimbledon, one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. Even if you aren’t a big fan of tennis, supporting her and our other tennis star Milos Raonic, who is also in a quarterfinal today, is something that brings our country together slightly.
On a larger scale we can look at the Sochi Olympics where multiple examples ring true. Although when many of these athletes go to various world championships each year we don’t follow along, for just over two weeks they’re one of the few things we care about. We want our athletes to be successful, our country to be the best.
In moguls the Dufour-Lapointe sisters Justine and Chloe won gold and silver respectively, which was a major moment for our country as Justine’s medal was the first gold for Canada.
Also on the moguls, Alex Bioldeau captured the hearts of Canadians with a gold medal finish (defending Olympic gold), but more specifically his hug with his brother Frédéric Bilodeau was almost as if he was hugging us as a nation. It was a touching moment.
Discussing further moments like the Canadian women’s hockey team coming from behind to win in overtime, the men’s gold medal victory or the curling teams both capturing gold at the same Olympics for the first time would only show more ways we, as a nation, came together.
Canada is a great country and as we celebrate another birthday we should think about celebrating together year round.
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Pure Passion, that’s what we need a little more of. Hopefully that’s what we’ll get.
A feature that I worked on over a year ago, Pure Passion, focused on locals that played their respective sports, for the love of the game. They played for fun, not just for a victory – they truly just love being active in whatever sport it is.
The hope is to bring that back to the sports section. It may be a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly feature, but that will entirely depend on the community and your feedback.
My hope is that you will reach out to me when you see a kid that falls into this description. When you do, email me at [email protected] and we can get the ball rolling on a story from there.
If there are any other ideas you have you can also email them there. I look forward to hearing from you.
Christopher Cameron is the sports reporter for The News and can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NGNewsChris. His column runs weekly on Wednesdays.
