After the apology, time to move on
The Globe and Mail
Sat 25 Oct 2008
Page: A7
Section: Column
Byline: Gary Mason
Dateline: VANCOUVER
Source: gmason@globeandmail.com

VANCOUVER -- When reached at the end of a long week, Dick Pound sounded weary and a little talked out. And who could blame him, after all the apologizing he had done over the preceding days?

It was odd to hear him in this state. While I would never claim to know the Montreal lawyer and International Olympic Committee member as well as others, any time I have talked to him I have always been struck by his tenaciousness and supreme confidence.

Of course, one person's confidence is another's arrogance, and Mr. Pound has certainly been accused of having that over the years. But the man at the end of the phone sounded neither confident nor arrogant, certainly nothing at all like the person who was often centre stage at news conferences, rattling cages, invoking the wrath of someone or other.

No, Dick Pound has been clearly shaken by an experience he simply didn't see coming. And who could blame him? He makes a comment to a journalist in Beijing that is published in Canada on Aug. 9, and which doesn't prompt a public syllable of dissent or anger. Two months later, people are suddenly screaming for his head.

By now, many Canadians know something about the controversy embroiling the McGill University chancellor. In response to a question from a reporter working for La Presse about whether the IOC should allow a country like China with its history of human-rights abuses to host an Olympic Games, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency went off in French, saying Canada had no right to be lecturing anyone.

"We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization," he said, in a translated version of his comment.

As I say, when the story was published, there wasn't even a letter to an editor. Then two months later he gets a call from someone on the IOC ethics committee saying it has received a complaint from a native advocacy group claiming his comment was racist.


Mr. Pound explained himself. The IOC seemed to be satisfied with his explanation and dismissed the matter. It suggested the group contact Mr. Pound directly to get his clarification. It didn't. Instead, the aggrieved party sparked what amounted to a nationwide jihad, with native groups calling for his resignation and provincial politicians like B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell demanding Mr. Pound immediately make amends for "disgraceful" comments.

Apologize, Mr. Pound did. Over and over and over again. And when I talked to him the other day, the first thing out of his mouth was: "I am truly sorry for offending people. It was not my intention at all. But if somebody runs over your foot accidentally it hurts just as much as if someone ran over it deliberately."

Mr. Pound has explained that the term he used that set off the controversy - pays de sauvages - was once commonly used to refer to natives hundreds of years ago. He was not, he explained, making any correlation between that period and today but now understood that he used an expression, while rooted in history, that was not only dated but inappropriate.

Even though he spent the entire week apologizing and explaining himself, it was still not good enough for many native leaders who said his apology was insincere. The subtext of that sentiment being: Mr. Pound is a racist.

I certainly wouldn't want to minimize the discomfort his comments, however unintentional, caused some people in Canada. At the same time, those same people should not minimize the pain and grief this whole affair has caused someone who has spent decades fighting for good and representing the country with honour.

And someone, I will say right now, who doesn't have a racist bone in his body.

People who are still upset with Mr. Pound should call him. They should talk to him and hear him explain himself. And he'd be happy to, by the way. He's reached out to some native leaders who won't return his calls. They won't be happy, it seems, until he's punished. Until his firing from the board of the 2010 Winter Games Olympic Committee becomes someone's trophy.

It's a terrible thing, the lynch mob mentality we've developed in this country. It's actually scary just how quickly the mob gets organized and fans out across the country without the slightest acknowledgment or regard for the truth or circumstance.

Mr. Pound has apologized. He never intended to hurt anyone's feelings or denigrate the character or history of our aboriginal people. He made an unintentional mistake that speaks in no way to his core belief or values and he's sorry.

Let that be the end of it.