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Canadian athletes call for grassroots legacy from Paralympics

Audio version of this story for the visually impaired by tomorrowisaudio

ATHLETES have vowed to push for a legacy of more facilities, access to sport and greater public awareness in the wake of the most successful Paralympic Games in history.

A record 2.7 million spectators1 and increased public attention have given disabled sportsmen and women an unprecedented spotlight of influence.

Both veteran and first-time Canadian Paralympians at the 2012 games in London, United Kingdom, told Tomorrow that this enthusiasm needs to be translated to home soil and last beyond once every four years.

Canada’s medal haul of 31, seven of them gold2, is down substantially from the 50 medals and 19 gold of the Beijing Paralympics four years ago3, and Sport Canada4 – the federal government’s sport funding body – said future funding would be determined after a review of the performances.

But athletes argued that, beyond facilities and investment, they wanted to create more opportunities in sport, at a local level, for Canadians with disabilities.

Christos Trifonidis5 competed in his sixth Paralympics in London in shooting, finishing 26th in the 10m and 41st in the 50m air rifle events.

The 66-year-old grandfather of two, who has quadriplegia, said he was only able to train twice a week because of limited facilities in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

He said: “Canada definitely needs to invest to be able to compete. We build it up and tear it down. There is nothing like this [shooting] venue in Canada.

“Hopefully we’ll get some facilities out of [the games]. I can’t go train any time I want.

“Lack of facilities is holding back accessibility for young people. They need to go somewhere where they can see people in action as a disabled person. If it was not for shooting, I would probably be in bed right now. If you’re not occupied, what are you going to do?”

Susan Verdier, technical director at the Shooting Federation of Canada 6, confirmed there was no Canadian facility equivalent to that in London.

In an email statement, she said: “Regrettably, there is a severe shortage of high quality facilities in Canada and shooters are forced to look elsewhere (to the United States in particular) for international standard training and competition opportunities.

“More ranges are being closed than opened across Canada because of anti-gun legislation, environmental and/or public safety concerns making it extremely difficult for shooting athletes to practise their sport.”

Five-time Paralympian and a member of Canada’s gold-medal-winning wheelchair basketball squad in London, Richard Peter7, said even simple equipment at the local level such as disability-friendly horse saddles would improve access to sport.

The resident of Vancouver, BC, who turns 40 years old hours after the closing ceremony of the Paralympics, said in a phone interview: “The [media] coverage is definitely not on par with the Olympics, but it’s getting there. People say, ‘Good luck at the Olympics’ – I’m happy to let people know the difference.

“I didn’t know anything about the Paralympics until a basketball team came to my school. I have done a lot of school talks and visits, and I go to rehab centres in Vancouver and let them know about sport and opportunities.

“There’s a lot more opportunities for anyone with a disability to get out there and try sport.”

[imagebrowser id=4 onclick=”return hs.expand(this, { slideshowGroup: paralympics })”]

First-time judo Paralympians Tim Rees8 and Tony Walby9, who both have degenerative eye conditions, said they wanted to introduce more visually impaired Canadians to the sport.

Mr Walby, a 39-year veteran of judo who finished seventh in the over-100kg competition in London, said: “I’m a big proponent of judo for the visually impaired. Even if you’re totally blind, you can compete in that top group. When you do that, eyes open.

“I plan to really push visually impaired judo within Judo Canada10. It’s a perfect sport for people who want to do martial arts but are visually impaired.

“My hope is the Paralympics is an inspiration to young people to do sport, no matter what their disability is. Media attention is at an all-time high – now is when the Paralympics is at its most accessible. We need to keep the momentum going.”

The resident of Ottawa, Ontario, added that he would now return to coaching and hoped to one day lead the national squad.

Mr Rees, from Victoria, BC, finished ninth in the up-to-100kg category and said he would like to influence visually impaired youth.

The 32-year-old father of two, who holds a PhD in applied mathematics, said: “I didn’t win a medal but a big positive would be if I could encourage more people to take up the sport.

“I would be happy to go to communicate with blind young people and get them into judo. I hope the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) will try to use the athletes who competed here to get people involved in sport.”

* * *

‘Put athletes on the map’

Canada, which last hosted a summer Paralympics in 1976 in Toronto, ON, with a closing ceremony crowd of just 5000 people11, currently has about 160 swimmers with disabilities across 450 local clubs, according to Paralympic team coach Craig McCord.

One of those swimmers, Brianna Jennett-McNeill12, had top 10 finishes in the S10 100m and 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly at her first games. The 20-year-old, who has a leg length discrepancy with a foot deformity, said she has spoken to schools before and viewed the local level as key to continuing the success of the Paralympics.

Ms Jennett-McNeill, from Russell, ON, said: “I really hope the Paralympics puts a lot more of the disability athletes on the map. They are extraordinary people who carry such an inspiring message. It’s important for people to know we are people too – we just have different abilities.

“I think [the Paralympics] has become more mainstream. Things that are important are local athlete recognition: athletes of the week and disabled athletes of the week, athletes attending Christmas parades, going to places people like to go, people like us promoting the sport. It’s important to have local athletes.”

Morgan Bird13, from Regina, Saskatchewan, said more media attention was needed in Canada and hoped the London games would close the popularity gap between the Olympics and Paralympics.

The swimmer celebrated her 19th birthday during the games and had her best finish of six events with fourth place in the S8 400m freestyle.
Ms Bird, who has cerebral palsy which affects the left side of her body, said: “The support that’s here is amazing. More media attention from TV, radio, newspapers – the more the better.

“I’m hoping to send an inspiring message and tell athletes like myself that if you want to, you can. The key is for younger generations to ask questions and for athletes who have gone to the games to answer them and give feedback.”

‘Bad attitude’ is the only disability

In their competitive and training lives, disability isn’t usually an issue for judo veterans Tim Rees and Tony Walby.

Mr Rees said judo was unique in that visually impaired athletes normally train and compete with those without disabilities and are only separated for the Paralympics.

He said: “I don’t like to be called ‘disabled’ per se, but another word would have the same meaning. I’m just Tim.

“Most people when they hear you have a visual impairment are surprised you’re doing sport at a high level.

“Success is from working hard – there’s nothing magical about it.

“The first time people find out you’re blind, they might be a little concerned, but when you beat them up, they don’t care.”

Mr Walby added that the skill of a fighter is key, and people can be surprised at how easily they hide a visual impairment.

He said: “Our own coach didn’t know I was visually impaired for a long time. For myself and Tim it’s an obstacle but we get around it to have careers, family life – it’s challenging but not impossible. You can get around road blocks. Nothing is unachievable. Nothing can really stop you if you want to put your mind to it.”

Brianna Jennett-McNeill said she wants young people to look at her and ask her questions.

She said: “Making the information open to younger generations, learning new things – if you’re shunning disability and telling people not to look at them that’s not helping. We want to show the world what we are capable of.”

Her teammate Morgan Bird added: “The only disability in life is a bad attitude. We are all the same.”

Alison Korn, press chief for the CPC in London, praised the organisation of the games and the support for athletes, who draw funding from Sport Canada and the Own The Podium14 programme.

Lisa Weagle, communication assistant at Sport Canada, said government funding of Paralympic sport was at “an all-time high level”, with $48 million over the past four years to prepare for London. This year, on top of $12.6m in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Sport Canada added $6.1m to the CPC to support the Canadian team and for “programs to support Paralympic sport development”.

She added: “The Canadian Paralympic movement took another huge step forward with these games in London.

“We will continue to support our athletes and national sport organisations and work with the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Own the Podium to help our current and future Paralympians achieve medal performances.

“Following the games, a review of Canadian performances will take place across all summer sports and this will help guide future funding decisions.”

All the Canadian athletes thanked the audiences in London for their support and particularly family members who travelled over for the games.

Mr Walby said: “We don’t make it here on our own. My family have been such a phenomenal help. In the last decade my wife has been taking me to all these tournaments. We had a tremendous amount of support to get here.”

Ms Jennett-McNeill said she felt she was “living in a fantasy land” after the experience of the Paralympics.

“I always wanted to do distance running when I was younger, but I couldn’t so I didn’t try,” she said. “But swimming really works for me and I love it. Whether you have the facilities or not, then you find ways to do it.

“I had a dream as a kid and I achieved it. I have never achieved something bigger than this. It feels amazing to say I have achieved my biggest goal. I can share with people. I can proudly say I represented Canada at the Paralympic Games.”

Ms Bird added: “It’s the biggest meet you’re ever going to be in. I’m going to come out of London with the best memories of my life.”

UPDATE: Mr Walby’s age has been corrected from 31 to 39.

CORE PRINCIPLES APPLIED

No relevant issues on principles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 or 10.
6. A duty to openness: Except where noted, athletes were interviewed in person outside or inside the Olympic Park. The press office of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) granted permission for photos of the athletes interviewed and general ones of the park to be taken.
11. Promote responsible debate and mediation: Interviewees cited need for a legacy from the Paralympics and encouraged public interest in disabled sport and accessibility.

  1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19500185 ↩
  2. http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/medals/medal-count/ ↩
  3. http://paralympic.ca/en/Games/Summer/Beijing-2008.html ↩
  4. http://www.pch.gc.ca/sportcanada ↩
  5. http://paralympic.ca/en/detail/37270.html?id=37937&profileid=37937&view=detail ↩
  6. http://www.sfc-ftc.ca/ ↩
  7. http://paralympic.ca/en/detail/37270.html?id=37892&profileid=37892&view=detail ↩
  8. http://paralympic.ca/en/detail/37270.html?id=43264&profileid=43264&view=detail ↩
  9. http://paralympic.ca/en/detail/37270.html?id=43265&profileid=43265&view=detail ↩
  10. http://www.judocanada.org/splash.php ↩
  11. http://www.paralympic.org/paralympic-games/toronto-1976 ↩
  12. http://paralympic.ca/en/detail/37270.html?id=43576&profileid=43576&view=detail ↩
  13. http://paralympic.ca/en/detail/37270.html?id=43586&profileid=43586&view=detail ↩
  14. http://ownthepodium.org/ ↩

Parliament design: The shape of debate to come

Leading architects argue parliaments can change

ARCHITECTS behind two of the world’s newest legislative assemblies say it is time to consider debating the design of spaces for political discourse.

The territory of Nunavut’s consensus government and circular legislature and the National Assembly for Wales’ similar arrangement of members represent two of the most modern attempts at debating chambers.

Lead architects from both projects said the traditional British Westminster approach of two opposing sides of a chamber now had room for change and variation.

Bruce Allan, senior partner with The Arcop Group1 based in Montreal, was lead architect behind the Nunavut Legislative Building in Iqaluit and is involved in the ongoing renovation of the West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa2.

He said the unique circular design was essential to the Inuit tradition of decisions by consensus, incorporated into the form of the Nunavut Legislature.

“Their tradition,” he said, “doesn’t require the official opposition, the ‘official disagreers’, to be defined. With the southern system, the moment you’re a member of the opposition, you’re duty bound to disagree with the government whether or not you really disagree with them, you’re there as a check and balance.

“With the smaller number of members in the Inuit [legislature], disagreements can be raised by anyone and there isn’t the party discipline issue that frustrates our MPs in Ottawa.”

[Tweet “”You’re duty bound to disagree with the government whether or not you really disagree with them””]Ivan Harbour, partner in Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners3, said the same problems with Westminster’s confrontational design in London, England, that prompted the alternative circular Welsh layout in the capital Cardiff, are still present.

With the UK’s first coalition government in decades, Mr Harbour said it was worth a public debate about the space in which politicians argue and reach consensus, and that there was room within Westminster to create a new space, if politicians and the public decided something new was needed.

Mr Harbour, director in charge of the team behind the Assembly, warned against the “auditorium” style of the European Parliament’s hemicycle4 which more for presentations than debate.

He said: “There is a debate that should be had about the way our parliament works or how the place influences parliamentary behaviours.

“There have been a lot of criticism about it for a very long time and we should always have the debate.

“We should not just accept that Westminster is the right answer. It might be the right answer. Even though it’s historic, it does allow a dynamic parliament.

“But we should have the debate and get politicians to recognise that architecture can help shape environments.

“It’s very difficult to get politicians to say a space works well because it’s well conceived.”

2012parliamentdesign

The Nunavut assembly building, as well as various government buildings and housing projects around the polar region, were built in the run up to the territory’s formal inauguration in April 1999. With a population of less than 32,0005 spread across almost 2 million square kilometres, there are just 19 elected members of the legislature. They, in turn, are surrounded by their “upper house” of community elders imparting wisdom to the members of the legislative assembly when needed.

Mr Allan, 65, said: “The Inuit are very respectful of the elders who carry the knowledge and wisdom from generation to generation. In place of a House of Lords or a senate as we have in the south, the elders sit in an outer circle and participate in the debates as and when’s necessary. So it’s really a two-tier circle. Their system works for them.

“And here’s Canada with five parties and because of the changing proportions the actual idea that the government’s on one side and the opposition’s on the other doesn’t really work any more. Maybe two thirds of one side are the government and the remaining third is part of the opposition in the present situation.

“It’s a model that, perhaps, doesn’t really lend itself to more than two parties but has managed to do so. And in the case of the semi-circular plan in Scotland, the sides can shift back and forth according to circumstances on the day.”

The Scottish Parliament’s chamber design, by the late Enric Miralles6, was, like the Welsh approach, intended to “encourage more constructive working” amongst politicians7.

Mr Harbour, who cut his teeth on the design of the European Court of Human Rights and Bordeaux Law Courts, said the public were “more ambivalent than we ought to be” about how parliament is run.

Mr Harbour said the Welsh Assembly’s circle design could thought of as two straight lines bent to touch at either end, so superficially it starts as a Westminster design and gets drawn together.

He argued that some of the leading legislation passed in Wales and Scotland since devolution in 1999 and then taken up by Westminster for England might suggest those bodies are functioning better.

“A good place to start would be comparisons with devolved parliaments around the UK,” said Mr Harbour.

“As a starting point, you could compare and contrast and ask what do you get from the politics in those places?

“We are not all doing it the same.”

Former UK prime minister Jim Callaghan8 chaired the design panel for the Welsh Assembly, which ran significantly over budget 9, as did Scotland’s parliament.

Mr Harbour added: “Jim Callaghan was very specific about Westminster being confrontational as a place sitting across the floor, and he wanted something that was the antithesis of that.

“The design panel wanted an environment about co-operation not confrontation. We just drew it as a circle and coloured it red.”

Canada’s temporary House of Commons

Arcop have designed a glass roof to cover the courtyard of the West Block which will become home to the House of Commons from 201710 for several years while the Centre Block original gets a massive overhaul.

Mr Allan said committee rooms have evolved considerably in Ottawa, even as the Westminster style remains a constant in the House of Commons and Senate.

He said: “The containment of the government in any location could vary. There are lots of ways of debating and it’s all in the end just throwing words into the ether and letting people discuss and think about them.

[Tweet “”There are lots of ways of debating and it’s all in the end just throwing words into the ether””]”In the new temporary House [of Commons], we’re going through a rather interesting challenge because in some way, it’s an open space like a big amphitheatre inside a glass-roofed courtyard, a bit like the British Museum.

“And the idea of a big amphitheatre-type form – a hockey arena if you want, in a Canadian way – was simply because the House had grown so big that to put it inside a box, which was our original concept, left the courtyard in which it would be situated, very congested.

“So the decision was taken to just open it up to the sky, so to speak. Except, once you go through that simple concept of an open-to-sky debating chamber, then the TV and media people come along and say, ‘We we can’t have any direct sunlight, and we have to have perfect acoustics’ and all this sort of stuff. So while the pattern of the House is the same as the original, the ceiling and container is very contemporary and very different.”

He added: “We have windows in the Iqaluit parliament so the government can be seen, whereas there would be great resistance to that in the south because of security or light control.”

‘Zero’ chance of cooperation

The premier of Nunavut, Eva Aariak, was not available to comment for this story on how the legislature works with its design.

But Graham White, professor of political science at the University of Toronto, Mississauga11, explained that while Nunavut has a circular design, there is a clear divide between the cabinet and other MLAs.

But, in an email, he said there was “pretty much zero” chance of more co-operative behaviour in Canadian legislatures. And he put the differences in approach in legislatures such as Wales and Scotland more down to mixed electoral systems, not just first-past-the-post.

He said: “Unquestionably the opposing rows of benches in standard Westminster parliaments reinforces the adversarial nature of the place; for my students I liken it to opposing armies or sports teams squaring off. At the same time, I see seating arrangements as very much secondary to underlying political culture and prevailing political norms.

“The Manitoba [legislature], which is semi-circular, has exceedingly nasty, adversarial partisan politics, and the US Congress these days is hardly a paragon of non-partisanship.

“Consensus government may work – not everyone would agree it does – when you have 19 MLAs, but when you’re talking of dozens or hundreds, it’s difficult to imagine it.”

The Nunavut legislature was initially viewed as being in a temporary location in the centre of Iqaluit, but it has become a point of pride for the community, said Mr Allan.

“You’re trying to blend tradition with contemporary design and thought,” he said. “You try for, in our Canadian context, openness as much as is possible. So how do you shape a place of government so that you can achieve the openness, balancing the formality of tradition with the informality of our current culture.

“Westminster is seen as the ‘Mother of all Parliaments’. Physically everybody thinks of Westminster as the way a parliament should be if you’re of British roots.”

“The great thing about having to design these things from scratch,” said Mr Harbour, “is you can get these things right. I think the Senedd12 has worked very well.

“I’m sure there could be space within Westminster to make a place that would work, if it was felt the chamber was no longer doing the job.

“A good place to start is asking how many of us watch Westminster on TV. Any way to improve the way parliament is produced and perceived on TV is good. It should respond to the dynamics of the debate.

“In a funny way, one of the advantages of not having enough space is it makes it more dynamic.”

 

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

CORE PRINCIPLES APPLIED

No relevant issues on principles 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 7, 8 or 9.
6. A duty to openness: UK parliaments, both national and regional, all openly provide images of legislative chambers on flickr pages; there is no equivalent for Canadian assemblies, images of which were obtained from Wikimedia Commons or through legislative libraries. British Columbia was asked for an image but did not provide one. Images supplied by Saskatchewan and the Yukon were too small to use and alternatives were found.
10. Educate and entertain: Detailed explanation of theories behind design of both Nunavut and Welsh legislative assemblies, and comprehensive image gallery of 21 different legislative chambers.
11. Promote responsible debate and mediation: Interviewees cited place for debate on architecture and politics, and encouraged public interest in the subject.

  1. http://www.arcop.com/ ↩
  2. May 2012 statement on contract for Parliament Hill renovation. ↩
  3. http://www.rsh-p.com/rshp_home ↩
  4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sed/plenary.do ↩
  5. Stats Canada figures. ↩
  6. Spanish Catalan architect, February 25, 1955 – July 3, 2000. The parliament was unfinished when he died. ↩
  7. Scottish Parliament document on the design. ↩
  8. Prime minister from April 5, 1976 to May 4, 1979. ↩
  9. The initial price limit of £12 million (CA$18.9m; US$18.6m; EU15.4m; INR1.0bn) climbed to £67 million (CA$105.8m; US$104.0m; EU85.8m; INR5.8bn). Conversions as of July 23, 2012 on xe.com with conversions for British pound, Canadian and US dollars, the euro and Indian rupee. ↩
  10. An unnamed spokesperson for Travaux Publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada/Public Works and Government Services Canada said an image of what the temporary chamber could not be provided and they would not provide a previous photo, used in this piece in 2011. They stated: “The rehabilitation of the West Block is scheduled to be completed in 2017 and the temporary Chamber located in the West Block will be used once the House of Commons has moved in the building.” ↩
  11. http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~w3pol/faculty_white.htm ↩
  12. The Welsh word for parliament or senate. Basic details of the Assembly can be found here. ↩