It’s a long-standing debate: what’s Canada’s national sport? Is it hockey? Or lacrosse?
On the one hand, there’s evidence First Nations have played lacrosse-like games on these lands for at least 400 years. But the sport we know today is a colonised version that lacks its original spirituality. In hockey’s favour, politicians have tried to declare the sport Canada’s official game since 1964. And hockey pop culture is everywhere—songs, movies, television, and beer commercials position hockey as the ultimate Canuck pastime. In 1994, Canadian parliament, under Prime Minister Jean Chretien, passed Bill C-212 and produced a typically Canadian compromise: lacrosse would be Canada’s official summer sport, and hockey would be the official winter game.
