1988–First Winter Olympics in Canada
Olympic-sized preparations
Well before the 1988 Olympic Games, the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta had set up a special committee called “Contact Calgary.” The mission of the committee was to raise awareness among businesses and the various levels of government of the benefits of providing bilingual services. Among other things, the committee encouraged the City of Calgary to put up bilingual signage to identify Olympic sites, and encouraged restaurants and hotels to translate their menus. Contact Calgary also designed and distributed a brochure entitled En français s’il vous plait, which included a directory of businesses that provided service in French.
As Canada prepares to welcome visitors from around the world to the Vancouver Winter Games, many Canadians may still remember the Winter Games of 1988 held in Calgary, Alberta.
The 1988 XV Olympic Winter Games marked the first time that Canada hosted the Winter Games. More than 20 years earlier, in 1976, Montréal was the first, and remains the only, Canadian city to host the Summer Olympic Games.
Planning for the Games began immediately after the city won their bid in 1981. In April 1982, the XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee (OCO’88) was incorporated. The name was selected so that the acronym OCO’88 would incorporate French and English—Olympiques Calgary Olympics ’88—in recognition of the bilingual nature of Canada, the Organizing Committee and the Olympic movement.
Canada won five medals at the Games, bettering their record from the previous Games in Sarajevo (then the capital of Yugoslavia); however, they continued to hold the unenviable distinction of being the only host country not to win a gold medal at its own Games.
But who could forget the close final decision in figure skating that gave Brian Boitano the gold over Canadian figure skater Brian Orser, or Elizabeth Manley, who surprised everyone by delivering a performance of a lifetime and winning a silver medal?
A window on culture
The Olympic Arts Festival was held from January 23 to February 28, 1988, alongside sporting competitions. This event aimed to showcase the diversity of Canada’s artistic output to the world. The Festival’s programming included events related to Francophone culture: art exhibitions, shows, French-language film screenings and samples of traditional foods at some Olympic sites.
The following Canadian athletes won an Olympic medal in Calgary:
- Elizabeth Manley—silver, figure skating (individual women)
- Robert McCall and Tracy Wilson—bronze, figure skating (ice-dancing)
- Brian Orser—silver, figure skating (individual men)
- Karen Percy—2 bronze, alpine skiing (downhill women and super-giant slalom women)
Some interesting firsts in 1988:
- The Games were extended to 16 days, including three weekends.
- The number of events increased from 39 in Sarajevo to 46.
- The alpine events took place on artificial snow.
- Curling was introduced as a demonstration sport.
- Short-track speed skating and freestyle skiing were two demonstration sports.
- The speed skating events were held on a covered rink for the first time.
Greater acceptance of French in the West
“After being involved in Francophone issues for a very long time, I have identified cornerstone events in Alberta that greatly influenced public opinion. The Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 especially comes to mind. This bilingual event was a major turning point. We worked hard on putting up signs saying ‘Bienvenue à Calgary,’ supporting athletes and providing services. The restaurant sector is just one example. Newspapers were conducting surveys on acceptance of official and individual bilingualism to measure the impact of this event. Some people say that the major shift in attitude started at that time. In fact, the acceptance rate jumped from 20% to nearly 50%.”
Denis Tardif, Executive Director of the Secrétariat francophone de l’Alberta, taken from the Encyclopédie virtuelle des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.
Did you know…
Calgary was originally called Fort Brisebois after Éphrem Brisebois, a French-Canadian inspector with the North West Mounted Police, which founded an outpost there in 1875. However, in 1876, Scottish Captain James Farquharson Macleod renamed the settlement Fort Calgary after a Scottish village.
Today in Alberta
- 68,000 people, or 2% of the population, speak French as their first language.
- 223,000 people, or 7% of the population, speak both English and French.
- 33,000 English-speaking students are enrolled in French immersion in 197 schools in the province.
- 6,000 students are enrolled in 27 Francophone schools in the province.
- The Campus Saint-Jean in Edmonton offers French-language university programs to some 500 students each year.
- The Le Franco weekly newspaper is distributed across the province.
