Reimagining Canada:Nation Branding, Media Coverage, and National Identity at the Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver Olympic Games , 1976 2010

Canada is a country that consistently ranks in the top ten among the strongest nation brands in the world, yet its images are often not as salient in the international media in comparison to other nations. This thesis explores the effects of Olympic Games hosting in Canada and discovers that mega-events played an important role in establishing the country’s largely positive international image. Staging of the Olympics also helped reinvigorate national identity discussions internally, allowing Canadians to crystallize their own self-perceptions. The thesis provides an overview of the forces that shaped Canada’s national identity. Firstly, this study briefly outlines the major external factors that influence Canadian self-perceptions: connections to the U.S. and Europe are vital reference points for Canada’s identity. The academic discourse on major internal factors shaping Canada’s identity is summarized next. The dynamic relationship between English Canadians and Québécois, the reliance on multiculturalism as a predominant nation building policy and its effects for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, the connection to the North, and the special place of sports, and hockey in particular, in Canada’s popular identity discourse are all building blocks of the country’s identity. After discussing the concept of nation branding and the current understanding of countries’ best strategies of improving their international image, the thesis provides an overview of Canada’s experience with hosting World Fairs. The success of Expo ’67 in Montreal and Expo ’86 in Vancouver helped Canada shake off its peripheral status and inspired Canadians to seek hosting the Olympic Games. Nation branding scholars argue that Olympics are an international media opportunity, but not a nation branding activity in itself: it was up to the Olympic organizers and all Canadians to tell their story to the world while the spotlight of the international media was on the host country. The mass-media largely inform the way the international audiences perceive a mega-event and its host. This thesis discusses the agenda-setting and opinion-making function of media and argues that media framing has an effect on the way issues are understood and develop over time inside the country. At the same time, mass-media are one of the major sources of opinion-making for external audiences. Using the Ethnographic Content Analysis method, this thesis examines the media coverage of Canada’s Olympic Games: 1976 in Montreal, 1988 in Calgary and 2010 in Vancouver. Comparing and contrasting the Olympic coverage in two mainstream domestic (one regional and one national), and two prominent international newspapers, this thesis reviews the regional-national-global dynamics affecting questions of Canadian national identity and image at the time of each Games. The analysis of the media coverage of all three Olympics suggests that the domestic reporting generally fits well with the existing academic discussions about Canadian identity, and helps to crystallize national self-perceptions. The regional and national media often expressed concerns that the hosting of the mega-events and the international scrutiny of complex internal issues would harm Canada’s image abroad. However, international journalists rarely examined Canadian identity issues in detail. Despite the domestic problems that arose at the time of each Games, the international press focused mostly on the competitions and performances of the teams and athletes from their respective countries, and often praised Canada as the host nation, adding to its positive international reputation. The Olympic Games provided a stage for Canada on which complex themes of its identity and image have played out. Discussions about Quebec’s cultural survival overlapped with debates about pan-Canadian identity during the Montreal Games. The ideas of Canada’s Northern mentality and prominence of sports, fear of Americanization, and the search for Canada’s place in the international community were all evident at the time of the Calgary Games. Themes of multiculturalism and Aboriginal participation were intertwined in a complex web during the Vancouver Games. The analysis of media coverage found a progressive increase of awareness on the part of the Canadian Games’ organizers about the importance of managing publicity at the time of a mega-event. In future mega-events hosted by Canada, organizers and government officials will have to work hard to ensure that international audiences receive an accurate reflection of the forces that shape Canada as a nation at the time, in order to take advantage of new international media opportunities and strengthen Canada’s nation brand.

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