Two days ago I was reading the updates on my Facebook homepage when I noticed the following quote: "we lost :-(". I knew right away what the quote referred to: the British Columbia Supreme Court had ruled against the Female Ski Jumpers (capital letters on purpose) lawsuit to participate in the 2010 games (lower case on purpose). The quote was from my Facebook "friend" Katie Willis, one of the Ski Jumpers who valiantly and bravely fought for the right to compete in the Olympics. I won't presume to say that we're friends friends. We all know that being a Facebook "friend" is not like being a real friend. Not to mention that in real life we might think it odd (or worse) that an 18 year old woman and an 49 year old man can be friends. We connected on Facebook when I joined a Facebook group to support the Female Ski Jumpers bid to compete at the Vancouver Whistler Olympics. When I first read about the issue, I obviously sided with the young women and my opinion of the IOC reached its all time low. Mind you, I am not referring here to the Olympic movement nor to the Olympic ideals, which I believe include fairness and justice. What I am talking about is the IOC. Now that the BC Supreme Court has made its decision, it corroborates my own opinion and that of the thousands of people who have supported and will continue to support these brave young women, some almost as young as my own daughter who is 15 and with her own Olympic size dreams (albeit in music rather than sport). And my opinion was and is that no matter what spin the IOC gives it, their decision not to include the Female Ski Jumpers in the 2010 games is discriminatory. According to the Globe and Mail (Sat July 11) "Madam Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon ruled that the women ski jumpers were indeed discriminated against by the International Olympic Committee's decision to keep them off the 2010 Olympic calendar, but added that the Switzerland based IOC was beyond the reach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
While I am very happy with Judge Fenlon's ruling in terms of the finding of discrimination, I don't agree about the IOC being beyond the reach of the Charter. If say, my daughter offered our home for a big party and some rich kids form Switzerland were invited, the fact that they were prestigious guests would not give them permission to break the rules of our house or break the laws of the land. More likely what happens is that the Olympic games mean so much money and effort that some principles are bent or ignored. I am a tourism marketer and I support the industry's efforts to profit from the games coming to Canada. I'm not a righteous holier than though person, not perfect by any stretch. I understand that in life it's necessary to make compromises. But in this case I believe I had to speak out. I owe it to my own daughter to try and walk the talk so that she can believe as another one of the jumpers, Meaghan Reid, told the Globe and Mail: "This is Canada. I've grown up here all my life, and nothing has ever stopped me because I was a girl."
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To Meaghan, Katie and all the other jumpers: I know it must feel awful. I know you must feel like your country let you down. We don' live in a perfect world and life isn't fair, but believe me when I say that you have made history and that because of your passion and your bravery you have advanced the cause of gender equality further. I thank you and I salute you. I am happy to have met you albeit via Facebook, but I can tell you that I'd be very proud if any of you were my daughter.
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Jaime Horwitz
-- Post From My iPhone
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