Arts and Culture
By: Serge Dupuis
Serge Dupuis
Contributing Historian
Author of six books, and a wide variety of articles and reports, Serge Dupuis was selected as “inspiring path” by the Journées de la relève en recherche de l’ACFAS (2021). He has also won the following awards:
- Canada Council for the Arts Scholarly Book Award (2024) for Une histoire du Moulin-à-Fleur de Sudbury: quartier ouvrier, territoire canadien-français, published by Ottawa University Press (2025)
- The Richard-Arès Prize for Best Essay published in Quebec (2018) for Le Canada français devant la Francophonie mondiale : l’expérience du mouvement Richelieu dans la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, published by Éditions du Septentrion (2017)
- Canada Council for the Arts Scholarly Book Award (2016) for Le Canada français devant la Francophonie mondiale (2017)
Serge has taught at universities across Ontario and Quebec from 2011 to 2017, then went on to concentrate entirely on the research, writing, and popularization of history throughout diverse forms of media since 2018.
Born in Sudbury (Ontario), Serge Dupuis is a professional historian working in Quebec; he is an associate member at the Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d’expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN) at the University of Laval.
Serge Dupuis has a bachelor’s degree (Laurentienne, 2007), a master’s degree (Ottawa, 2009) and a doctorat (Waterloo, 2013), then completed a postdoctoral fellowship (Laval, 2016); he received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for his three graduate studies.
The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) left no stone unturned to ensure the event would go off without a hitch. Their aesthetic appeal was also treated with the same consideration[i]. Yvon Laroche and Pierre-Yves Pelletier designed the logo, representing an athletics track and the five Olympic rings topped by a stylized podium in the form of an M (for Montreal). Michel Dallaire’s torch was made of Quebec aluminum, shaped like a cattail (present in Canadian marshes), and fuelled in part by olive oil (a nod to the Olympic games of ancient Greece). Designed by Guy St-Arnaud, Amik, the Games’ mascot, drew its name from the Algonquin language and symbolized the hard work that marked Canada’s history. Amik also wore a rainbow, evocative of a medal ribbon and representing the colours of each of the seven categories of personnel at the Games. In its figurine form, Amik wore a red rubber sash bearing the 1976 games’ logo. Two songs were commissioned to celebrate the games: “Bienvenue à Montréal”, performed by René Simard (and shunned by radio stations), and “Je t’aime”, performed by Estelle Sainte-Croix. Italian artist Giuseppe Casioli, a regular collaborator with the games, designed the medals. Produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, the medals were made of gold, silver, copper and tin. OCOG staff uniforms, created by designer Marielle Fleury’s team, included striking red, orange and blue waistcoats as well as wide pants, sewn by local boutique, Le Château. During the Games, viewers could purchase various objects showing the Games’ colours, from badges to binoculars to hairdryers.
In the weeks leading up to the start of the Games, “Corridart” was set up on Sherbrooke Street. Designed by Fernande Saint-Martin, director of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the artistic exposition gathered some one hundred works to celebrate the Quebec arts community and make culture accessible by integrating it in urban spaces[ii]. During a preview, Jean Drapeau was offended by some works he considered obscene. Some members of public were not entirely charmed either, as the exhibition obstructed the view of some residents and blocked certain sidewalks. Without notifying the museum’s director, the mayor ordered Montreal police to dismantle the exhibition during the night of July 13-14, 1976. Some officials, including Minister of Culture Jean-Paul L’Allier, tried to have Corridart reinstalled, but to no avail. Several artists publicly denounced Drapeau’s censorship and the fact that their works were confiscated (and probably destroyed). In a lawsuit filed by a group of ten artists, Justice Ignace-J. Deslauriers determined that Corridart had no contract with the City and that its content was “of a nature to create unease among different classes of Montreal society[iii]”. In 1987, Jean Doré, Drapeau’s successor, reached a settlement with the group.
Had the Games been held in the 21st century, a third representative of the founding peoples would have been included to light the Olympic flame. But in 1976, public recognition of Indigenous, Métis and Inuit peoples was still a novelty. Two years earlier, Robert Bourassa’s government had committed itself to “protecting the way of life of indigenous peoples, for those who wish to continue this way of life, and proposals for social and economic programs to allow those who wish to integrate with our economic life to do so at their own pace, when they are ready and in the manner they choose[iv]”. This compromise between preserving ancestral cultures and gentler integration into Western life transcended the Arts and Culture program of the Montreal Olympic Games[v]. The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG) wished “that visitors from the entire world could see in these universal displays the nature inherent in Canadian inspiration” and offer “to the world an authentic image of Canadian pluralism[vi]”. The Arts and Culture program was broadly inspired by federal multiculturalism policy (1971), an idea of Canada as a mosaic distinct from the American melting-pot. The program also reflected the era’s immigration policy, which no longer based its evaluation on ethnic origins. The predominantly francophone OCOG also sought to meld multiculturalism with “two great […] dominant and […] very dynamic cultures[vii]”. Today, historian Sunera Thobani qualifies multiculturalism as naive and insidious, nothing more than a “culturally ‘tolerant’ cosmopolitan whiteness[viii]”.
In July 1976, the Indians of Quebec Association offered several performances in the “Events” pavillon and presented folk arts in the “Crafts” space in Place Bonaventure[ix]. The “Mosaicart” exhibit presented Inuit artworks, and several indigenous artists also participated in the Canadian Festival of Popular Arts. Indigenous artists approached the Olympic Games as an opportunity to highlight their cultures before a world audience and to defy stereotypes common among white populations. The OCOG feared that Indigenous participants would express grievances, to the point of detracting from the festive atmosphere[x]. During a performance on July 15, 1976, the Innu choir of Bersimis (Pessamit) sang “O Canada”, a Montagnais translation of a song by Claude Léveillée and four traditional songs, concluding with dances paying tribute to the snake and the eagle. Singers speaking to Le Devoir, affirmed they were “very proud” to be in Montreal, to provide an audience the opportunity to meet “authentic Montagnais” and to witness costumes made in the community (as opposed to the fake costumes made for the closing ceremony). Columnist Christine L’Heureux was moved:
When you know how much the image of the Indian [indigenous person] and the Eskimo [inuit person] is used for tourism purposes only, how little we concern ourselves with the lot of the Indians, except to thrill foreigners with a little exoticism, you wonder what motivates them to come to Montreal in July […]! Indians of Quebec have the opportunity, through their performances, to present their cultural difference, their customs and traditions, not just glitz for tourists. The Montagnais of Bersimis, if they are not yet too drawn into plastic civilization, still have the knowledge and a vision of the world that they have the chance to present through their performances. While North America works to invent ways of being more and more in harmony with nature, being more ecological, while young people seek to return to the origins, outside the established system. Educating Indians is one possibility. They were complaining the other afternoon that Canadian history had never been written from their perspective. In fact, we would rather hear an Indian legend than a song by Claude Léveillée[xi]…
For its part, the Kahnawake community presented Indian Days, also intended to present visitors with elements of Mohawk culture and daily life and to correct prejudices spread in Hollywood movies and Wild West shows. The OCOG prevented Kahnawake from holding the festival within the Cité Olympique. According to George Hill, the organizer of Indian Days:
[OCOG directors] wanted us to hold a parade in Montreal. We’re modern Indians, but we have 300 years of beliefs and customs. In the end we were just asking for some publicity from the OCOG, but even that didn’t work. We notified everyone. We even went to Radio-Canada[xii].
In fact, representatives of the Arts and Culture program preferred to use the presence of Indigenous artists to present a “story of the nation” in line with bilingualism and multiculturalism. In preparing the closing ceremony, choreographers Michael Cartier and Hugo de Pot hired 250 Montreal dancers to teach their choreography… to indigenous artists. As historian Jennifer Adese puts it:
The French-Canadian dancers, dressed and painted in accordance with European stereotypes about ‘real Indians’, wearing buckskin costumes replete with fringe and feathers, led the similarly dressed indigenous participants into the arena[xiii].
Through these choices, representatives of the Arts and Culture program achieved a fragile (and debatable) balance between freedom of speech and integrating Indigenous peoples in Canada’s story.
[i] “Raconter Montréal un objet à la fois”, La Presse +, “Musée Pointe-à-Caillère : libérer le trésor” supplement, March 3, 2022, p. 6-7 ; Pierre Gince, Les Jeux olympiques de Montréal et nous : 50 ans, 50 regards, Montreal, Éditions de l’Homme, 2026, p. 32-33 ; Jadine Ngan, “How the Olympics Remade Montreal”, Maclean’s, February 4, 2026, online.
[ii] Pierre Gince, 2026, op. cit., p. 35.
[iii] Ignace-J. Deslauriers, “Contre l’art comme outil de contestation”, Le Soleil, June 1 ,1981, p. A -7.
[iv] John Ciaccia, in Martin Pâquet and Stéphane Savard, Brève histoire de la Révolution tranquille, Montreal, Les Éditions du Boréal, 2021, p. 196.
[v] Mélissa Bureau-Capuano, “’Une grande fête canadienne’ : les Autochtones et le programme Arts et culture des Jeux olympiques de Montréal”, Cahiers d’histoire, vol. XXXIII, no. 2 (autumn 2016), p. 167.
[vi] Olympic Games Organizing Committee, Montréal 1976 : Jeux de la XXIe Olympiade, volume 1,Montreal, 1978, p. 578-579, in Mélissa Bureau-Capuano, autumn 2016, op. cit., p. 173.
[vii] Olympic Games Organizing Committee, 1978, op. cit., p. 88.
[viii] Sunera Thobani, Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2007, p. 148. EXTRAIT ORIGINEL : « as a culturally ‘tolerant’ cosmopolitan whiteness »
[ix] Mélissa Bureau-Capuano, autumn 2016, op. cit., p. 167-170.
[x] Mélissa Bureau-Capuano, autumn 2016, op. cit., p. 167, 181-183.
[xi] Christine L’Heureux, “Des Indiens du Québec aux JO”, Le Devoir, July 16, 1976, p. 16.
[xii] George Hill, in Gilbert Lavoie, “Caughnawaga en fête pour se payer un nouvel hôpital”, La Presse, August 3, 1976, “Rive Sud” supplement, p. 4.
[xiii] Jennifer Adese, “Colyding with the Enemy? Nationalism and Depictions of ‘Aboriginality’ in Canadian Olympic Moments”, The American Indian Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 4 (Autumn 2012), p. 486.