Diversity should unite, not separate
Randy Ambrosie wants to emphasize for whom the message was intended.
Us. All of us. All of us Canadians, all of us living in Canada. Not to those south of the border.
The Canadian Football League’s Diversity Is Strength campaign and T-shirts — which arrived at Tim Hortons Field in time for Friday night’s game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Redblacks — is not a cheap ‘we’re better’ thumbing of the nose to Americans after last weekend’s explosion of hatred in Charlottesville, Va.
“It’s to Canadians,” the league commissioner told The Spectator earlier this week.
“It’s about understanding our values, it’s like a beacon on a far shore, it helps you to guide yourself to where you want to be. Reminding ourselves that diversity is fundamental to who we are.
“It’s what we’re all about, what we’re aiming to be as a league and a country.”
It’s a well-documented story that the CFL had planned a diversity-celebrating campaign later this fall, to mark Canada’s 150th birthday, when more of the country is paying attention to the league where “nothing really matters until Labour Day.”
On the suggestion of league executive Christina Litz, the CFL moved the campaign up and some players and staff of the B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders wore the T-shirts during their game on Sunday, as most North Americans were still emotionally reeling from Saturday’s horror. Some see that timing as some sort of political message, but not this corner.
American media immediately took notice and ESPN and CNN interviewed Ambrosie, and a Charlottesville radio station was all over the story.
“The idea was, let’s put out a message about how diversity is powerful,” said Ambrosie. “It’s also directed at the intersection of our game and our country: how diversity has made our country better, how diversity has made our league better. It’s not a political statement or to suggest we’re perfect at all.
“I’ve often said that Canada isn’t the promise of a better life, it’s an opportunity for a better life, and I think that’s what our game has presented to our players. It’s not automatic, you have to work really, really hard, but it’s made our game special. That’s the story we wanted to tell.”
Staff and those players who weren’t dressed for the game wore the T-shirts on the sidelines, so they could be seen by the TV and Tim Hortons Field audiences, and the few dozen shirts in the TigerCats shop at the stadium were going quickly before game time.
A TV ad coinciding with the campaign was also introduced Friday.
The front of the shirt reads ‘Diversity is Strength’ in big block letters, sitting above stylized football laces. On the back is the statement: “A league of”: followed by 21 names, all of CFL former players, reflecting different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
The likes of (Normie) Kwong, (Angelo) Mosca, ( Joe) Paopao; (Bobby) Singh and (Bernie) Custis are among the names.
Ambrosie points out that the CFL has historically welcomed players the National Football League rejected because of body shape or, more hideously, skin colour. Canada itself, he says, has been a world leader in inclusion.
“It’s cool,” Ottawa coach Rick Campbell says of the campaign. “That’s what I always like about the CFL. It’s a progressive league. It’s not corporate and stuffy, it’s always open to new ideas and new things and that’s one of the reasons I’m proud to be part of this league.
“The CFL has given guys an opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t have got one. Especially back in the days when the NFL had its set ways in what it thought football players should be. “I like the open mind part of it.” Hamilton coach Kent Austin waxed poetic, and accurate, on the subject on Thursday afternoon.
“In our sport, especially in the CFL, it’s a melting pot of all different types of socio-economic backgrounds, life experiences,” he said. “It’s important in what we believe is the most important team game ever invented, to understand the meaning of that. Because that’s what we teach as a philosophical viewpoint, what it means to be a valuable member in good standing with the people around you, to make sure you understand there are differences.
“Those differences don’t separate you, they should bring you together. If you’re self-aware and have any level of humility about you, you should be respectful of life experiences that differ from your own.”