Kate Marland: In defence of the Olympics

Even Lululemon’s post national interpretation of our Canadian symbols won’t stop us from celebrating our national pride.

(Team Canada marching in the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.)

In just under a month, the 2026 Winter Olympics kick off in Milano Cortina. Hundreds of Canadian athletes will compete for the chance to stand atop the podium while our flag is raised and our anthem sung. Much to the chagrin of those who aim to deconstruct our national pride, Canada is actually very good at the Winter Olympics. Our Winter Olympic performance over the years ranks fifth worldwide in terms of medals amassed, with a staggering 199 medals, 73 gold, 64 silver, and 62 bronze.

Think of the Vancouver 2010 games: Canada won a record-breaking 14 gold medals, smashing the previous record for golds won in a single Winter Games and touching the glowing hearts of Canadians from coast to coast.

For those of us on the right, the Olympics can be a touchy subject. Many will recall the aggressive and successful campaign to vote down a Calgary Olympic bid for the 2026 games. Within our prevailing fiscally conservative framework, the Games have historically been viewed as a flippant use of taxpayer funds. A movement driven by a “just leave me alone” thesis does not lend itself easily to the pageantry of the Parade of Nations.

But as we begin to reach a critical mass behind the idea that restoring our national identity and culture is work worth undertaking, the upcoming Winter Olympics provide us with a perfect vessel. Shared celebration of our Canadian national mythology is a necessary part of ensuring we have a cohesive national identity. And what better way to rally this spirit than cheering on Team Canada?

For our athletes, they should be the physical embodiment of the spirit of the Canadian people on the world stage. In the words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Nations are the wealth of mankind, its collective personalities; the very least of them wears its own special colours and bears within itself a special facet of divine intention.” From the moment our athletes enter the arena as part of the Parade of Nations, they are making a statement to the world about the state of Canadian national identity and pride.

Regrettably, Lululemon’s Team Canada Olympic kit makes it clear that they want to own the podium in a competition to see who can best avoid any and all indications of Canadian symbolism.

Over the years, Team Canada has had some truly egregious looks (see: Barcelona 1992’s 1990s nightmare of kaleidoscope print and bright orange). But Lululemon is qualifying at the top of its class in our national sport: denigrating our heritage and shying away from patriotism.

This category has faced some stiff competition in recent years. A champion attempt was put forward by MP Sean Fraser during his tenure as Minister of Immigration with the controversial redesign of the Canadian passport, which removed Terry Fox and replaced him with a striking visual of a squirrel eating a nut. And no one can forget Katy Perry’s boyfriend’s valiant push to reinforce our national shame daily with his record-breaking half-masting in 2021. Lululemon has proudly taken up the torch with its 2026 Olympic collection.

Strike one occurs when the Lululemon website first loads in your browser. You might think that there would be some indicator that Lululemon is proud to partner with Team Canada, or that this might be a feature of the front page. Instead, you have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Team Canada section, where you are visually assaulted by some avant-garde interpretation of a puffer jacket.

(Team Canada’s 2026 Lululemon apparel.)

Lululemon claims this kit is “familiarly Canadian”. But a quick browse does not trigger any familiar Canadian emotions. Long in the rearview mirror are Hudson’s Bay’s iconic flag mittens, which sold over 3.5 million pairs. If you want to keep your hands warm while supporting our athletes in 2026, your only option is a pair (priced at $98) available in “Medium Forest” or “Black Garnet”, no flag or national colour in sight.

If the goal of this collection is to eradicate any connection between the wearer and the traditional symbolism of our country, then I think it is safe to say, mission accomplished. There is no better physical representation of the sorry state of our national pride than this collection.

Lionising our countrymen into folk heroes is a net positive, whether it be Sidney Crosby scoring the gold medal overtime goal in the Vancouver 2010 games or Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s gold-winning Moulin Rouge routine in 2018. Who can forget Joanie Rochette’s bronze medal performance at the 2010 games, coming days after her mother’s death? The upcoming games provide Canadians with a timely opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our countrymen, past and present. For a population inundated with a tsunami of globalist pseudo-cultural slop on a daily basis, the Olympics offer us a rare chance to re-centre our national focus on something positive, rooted in historic Canadian excellence.

For those of us in the business of restoring our national identity, pride, and culture, let us not leave the cheering for Team Canada to the “elbows up” crowd. We need to own our historic Winter Olympic excellence and push through the discomfort of acknowledging that, yes, we are really good at winter sports. While Lululemon’s collection does nothing to assist us in this effort, maybe you, like me, can dig up some old pieces from Hudson’s Bay collections past.

At the bare minimum, let’s get ready to get off the couch, stand up, and proudly sing (at an audible level) the words of our great anthem.

Go, Canada, Go.

Kate Marland is a contributing editor at Without Diminishment. She formerly oversaw the Montreal Economic Institute’s Liberty and Leadership program, and presently runs youth outreach for the Canada Strong and Free Network. Prior to this, she also worked as a commercial litigator in Ottawa.