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CWG Opening

Ceremonies

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Tagen

Kelley Ware
Multimedia Coordinator

n Friday February 13, Prince George

was on the nation’s stage. Thousands
of athletes, coaches, and officials had spent
two days flying in from approximately 800
communities across Canada for the Canada
Winter Games. The opening ceremonies
were meant to launch the Games, kick off
celebrations in the community, and show

Canada just what Prince George has to offer.

Now, on a student budget, I could not
afford to attend the actual ceremonies at
the CN Centre. Fortunately, not only were
the ceremonies being televised nationally
on TSN2, but the feed was being streamed
for free to the Canada Games Plaza outside
of the Civic Centre with fireworks after.

I chose to attend the latter, because
something like this will likely not come
back to Prince George anytime soon and

I thought it was better to be part of the

celebration than simply see it on TV.

I arrived over an hour before the ceremonies
were to begin in order to check out the
Games Village and Canada Games Plaza. They
certainly did an amazing job transforming
the Civic Centre into something magical.
There were lights everywhere with small
temporary wood buildings to represent both
Northern BC and the “village” motif. There
were food trucks lining the parking lot of

the Four Seasons Pool, which was exciting
because I cannot recall ever seeing a food
truck in downtown Prince George. Global

BC News also had a temporary broadcast
room so they could broadcast the news on
location. That was such a sight to see as we all
awaited the start of the opening ceremonies.

The broadcast of the ceremonies began
with a message from new mayor of Prince
George, Lyn Hall, welcoming the nation to
our community. It sung the praises of Prince
George and had beautiful shots of the city

and surrounding area. Next, it went live

to the athletes as they marched in team

by team being led by a banner carrier, a
flag bearer, and another athlete carrying a
lantern that had been sent to each province
when the torch was initially lit in Ottawa to
symbolize the nation coming together. The
entire crowd cheered as Team BC entered.

It was impressive to see the prominence of
the Lheidli T'enneh, not just in the opening
ceremony but throughout the whole Games.
It was a breath of fresh air to have an Official
Host First Nation, the first in Canada Games
history. It is even better to know that it
happened in Prince George. The best part
was that the inclusion did not feel forced.
Chief Frederick sat on the platform with

the rest of the government officials. Oh
Canada was sung in three languages: first
Carrier by a children’s choir, and then in
English and French by another singer. It
was the first time I ever heard Oh Canada in
Carrier, and it was absolutely breathtaking.

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Two of the three prominent bands to play at
the opening ceremonies were local bands:
Bright City Heights and Black Spruce Bog.
Not only are the two of them amazing local
talent, but each band have UNBC alum

in their ranks. Both of them did Prince
George, UNBC, and themselves proud.

In between music and dancers, speeches
from Premier Christy Clark, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, Minister of Sport Bal Gosal,
and Canada Games officials were given

to welcome the athletes and celebrate
them and Prince George. The commercials
between the ceremonies were all Prince
George or Canada Games related, which
was a nice touch. I was constantly in a
state of awe and how well things that

were so familiar to me and that we take

for granted were shown. Prince George
likely will have a much more honoured
place on the nation’s stage after this.