There is no doubt that sports can be used to bring people together.
From the grassroots level all the way up to the pinnacle of the sport, the sense of community that sports can evoke is unmatched.
In a world that can be incredibly divisive, sports can bring people together, something that certainly shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle of everything going on in the everyday world. A key escape, sports can be an important unifier in times of strife.
At the same time, sports can also divide. Sports are far from perfect, and can sometimes reflect the bigger problems in society. It’s often said that sports are a reflection of a functional society, and given some of the issues that society is grappling with, that isn’t always a pretty reflection.
Yet, the power of sport is strong enough to power through that, when used for good. A powerful platform, it can be used to impact change, and spark movements that have a lasting impact on society.
Plus, sports can inspire.
Sports allow kids to dream big, for passion to shine, and for people to strive for accomplishments that they might’ve not otherwise been able to pursue. Every time that someone pulls on their strip and goes out and competes, they’ve usually got quite the story, one shaped by perseverance, hard work, and the idea of chasing their dream.
As a result, there are a lot of great stories in sports. Unfortunately, not all of them are able to be told.
Unique Togetherness aimed to shift that. Built off this idea of sports being a unifier, we wanted to tell the stories of a certain group that don’t always get told – those of immigrants and first and second-generation Canadians.
A backbone of Canadian society, that’s a demographic that also represents a key number of Canadian athletes today. From Alphonso Davies to Leylah Fernandez, a lot of the nation’s top athletes are new Canadians.
Pushed by the prototypical ‘Canadian grit’ that athletes in this country are known for, they’ve done an incredible job of showcasing what is possible for Canadians to achieve, inspiring a whole generation of people.
Yet, their stories aren’t always told. Not everyone knows what these athletes have gone through to get to where they are today, denying the younger generation of stories that they could’ve potentially identified with.
With Unique Togetherness, however, we looked to tell some of those stories.
From Olympic gold medallist, Carol Huynh, to Olympic wrestler Amar Dhesi, we looked to shine a light on some who have competed at the highest levels of sports, carving out great stories of resilience and determination to get there.
All while showing the values that many have come to associate with sports, it was a way to show how sports in Canada can often represent the beautifully diverse country in which they operate, even if that isn’t always abundantly clear in the coverage that they receive.
It’s often said that Canada’s strength is in its diversity, which has created a ‘unique togetherness’, if you will.
Yet, it’s that unique togetherness that makes Canada so special. And that’s the beauty of sport in this country.
Unique Togetherness 
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