Now for the main reason. I've always been so proud of being Canadian and the city I'm from. When I was living in England and someone would ask me where I'm from I would answer with pride. NOT today. Today I am sad and embarrassed to say my home town is Vancouver.
Vancouver is normally on the list as one of the best and most beautiful cities to live in. I've always agreed with this (having not lived in many other cities or countries my opinion may be a little biased.) I was proud of how well the Olympics went last year and the atmosphere was amazing. Then there was last night. It's probably cliche but hockey is a big part of our lives in Vancouver. We love our team and have waited for the Stanley cup for 40 years. In those 40 years they've only made it to the playoff finals twice. Once in 1994 and this year. Both years went to a final game 7. In 1994 they lost and Vancouver had it's first (I may be wrong on this but as far as I'm aware it was their first) riot. The game itself wasn't in Vancouver, it was in New York but a large group of people managed to cause a large amount of damage. I was young at the time and only remember a little bit that I was allowed to see on the news. Still I was taught and knew what had happened was wrong. 17 years later and the Canucks are in the finals again. After hosting the Olympics last year and having had large numbers of crowds with no major issues the city thought people were smarter. For the first 6 games in the finals everything went well. There were a few arrests and tons of liquor pour outs but no one was hurt and everyone went home after the games were over (no matter how horribly we lost a few of those games.)
Last night the game was disappointing. It was a terrible game and didn't look at all like they were playing for the cup. However disappointed I was in the game quickly turned to disappointment in people. No one cares about the hockey game anymore. Instead last night will now be remember as the second time Vancouver has had a riot over a HOCKEY GAME. As exciting as it would've been to be there and watch it with thousands of people being pregnant there was no way I would go anywhere near that big of a crowd no matter how peaceful the situation was. Also no matter how much you hoped history wouldn't repeat itself (and I'm not talking about the hockey game) we all knew how quickly the situation could change. I honestly believe that the riot would've happened wether they won or lost. The game was just an excuse. Those people that started it are not canuck fans. They went there to start trouble. In saying that those that participated were. It would be wishful thinking to say that those in the riot weren't canuck fans or from Vancouver because they were. They may not have been the ones that started it but they contributed and that's all that really matters in my eyes. It made me sad to see our beautiful city being destroyed. It made me sad and angry to know that all that damage and the cost of the clean up will be paid for in part by me. My taxes are going toward replacing those police cars, all the overtime and the cost of the clean up. I'm angry because these people were idiots and damaged their own town.
I promise to raise this child and any other children I have to respect other people and property. I'm ashamed and embarrassed about what happened last night and I hate how Vancouver now looks to the rest of the world. What I am proud of is the amazing job of the police, fire and ambulance service last night. I'm also proud that there were people out this morning helping the clean up crews. These people are what Vancouver and Canada are about. Unfortunately they aren't going to be what's remember.
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