Stick to sports
The Globe and Mail
Sat 25 Oct 2008
Page: A20
Section: Editorial

Dick Pound may have apologized, but he has failed to clear the air over his reference to Canada 400 years ago as a "land of savages." Accepting at face value his assertion that he had "absolutely no intention of hurting anyone" with his comments, his apparent interest in cultural equivalency is still odd for an official who has travelled as widely and in such rarefied circles.

The former senior International Olympic Committee official made the offensive remark during the Beijing Olympics when, speaking in French, he defended the staging of the Games in China despite that country's poor human- rights record. "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," Mr. Pound said.

It was a bizarre enough defence of human-rights deficiencies in China. But in later interviews, he made it worse. As he attempted to explain the remark, there was a hint of condescension. "There was no intention of making any racist comments," Mr. Pound told The Globe. "But you know, as well as I know, what was going on here 400 years ago."

Let's not kid ourselves. North America 400 years ago was not a paradise. People lived a rude existence. Even the more sedentary and developed cultures like the Anasazi of the American Southwest had unsavoury practices, like de- fleshing their enemies. Read a few back issues of American Anthropologist and you soon get the idea. So, in answer to Mr. Pound - yes, we do know what was going on here. It was not Hellenic civilization.

But then China, under Mao, is credited with what some scholars believe was the greatest genocide in history. There is nothing North American natives can be accused of that can hold a candle to what the Nazis did to Europe's Jews. And, oh yes, Europeans, in their efforts to spread civilization to the natives of the Americas, also spread microbial pestilence and practised what has been characterized as "purposeful genocide," killing tens of millions of people. In other words, if Mr. Pound looks for it, he'll fine there's plenty of savagery to go around.

If he'd like to retain his chancellorship at McGill University and his seat on the board of directors for the 2010 Vancouver Games, Mr. Pound in the future would be well advised to stay away from oddball ruminations on matters of cultural equivalency.