Moments after landing in Vancouver last week, I had five Canadians competing to point me in the right direction on the subway. They were so helpful that it was unhelpful. They were confusing me with all their “abooots” and “eeh’s.”
Angry Canadians? It’s an oxymoron. They’re so pleasant that it’s annoying. Show a little fighting spirit, for goodness sake!
Unlike us rambunctious Americans, Canadians never fought for their independence, instead waiting until 1867 for the Queen of England to grant them sovereignty. Nor did the Canadians ever initiate a fight against their southern neighbor the US. Remember that it was us who started the War of 1812 and provoked the Canucks to march all the way down to Washington and burn our White House in retaliation. And what’d they do next? They walked home. No great plans for dominance. No hanging around. Nuff said.
Hockey is a different story, I guess. All niceties go out the window when a circular disk is sliding on ice. As my subway train rolled into downtown Vancouver, I could still see the residue and scars from the previous weeks’ hockey riots during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.
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Down the road from my hotel, the Hudson Bay Company building was boarded up, its windows having been smashed during the June 15 riots that followed the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7. I saw an entire bus stop being replaced. The chain store Blenz coffee is suing 150 rioters who trashed three of the local outlets.
But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe the Canadians are just showing their real colors. Back in 1994, during another Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Championships, some 70,000 rioters took to the streets of Vancouver and caused about $1 million in damage.
This month’s riots were bigger, with 100,000 people taking to the streets and reportedly causing $4 million in damage.
Overall though, life in this quiet Pacific city was back to normal when I visited. The myriad walking and hiking paths were full of laid-back city-dwellers, bike lanes were busy with environmentally conscious riders, and the roads were patrolled by gas-efficient vehicles. But we know that behind all their gentle-sounding “aboooots” and “eeh’s” is a hockey stick-wielding animal waiting to storm out of the closet next season.
