Rugby player Pamphinette Buisa is among the more than 50 Island or Island-based athletes among the 276-athlete Canadian team competing in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the opening ceremony of which takes place tonight in Birmingham, England.
Although a social activist and supporter of de-colonization efforts — Buisa co-organized the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 in Centennial Square and is a member of the Rugby Canada Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour Working Group — she has no qualms about the Commonwealth or its Games.
“It’s an interesting question and worthwhile conversation,” said the Gatineau, Que., raised University of Victoria Vikes graduate.
“I am grateful for my parents [dad Pamphile and mom Jeanette] and what they went through to be immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then South Africa, who loved sports and exposed us to different opportunities in Canada. Every time I put on the Canadian jersey, I am always proud to represent the different communities.”
Joining Buisa in Birmingham will be the athletes from Barbados, despite their country making headlines this year by ditching the Queen as its head of state. What is little understood is that Barbados didn’t ditch the Commonwealth, which is a voluntary association that welcomes constitutional monarchies and republics alike post- independence.
Sort of like the Hotel California, you can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave. Or so it seems. Some nations have been expelled because of policies, such Zimbabwe currently, but only a few nations have refused to join upon independence or have voluntarily left the Commonwealth. In fact, nations are clamouring to get it in, even those who were not part of the British Empire, such as the latest members Gabon, Togo, Rwanda and Mozambique that has run the number to 54.
“At the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia, I saw all walks of life in the athletes village and different communities, and there was great understanding,” said Buisa. “There were so many smaller nations, who otherwise would not be able to compete in a Games, and were so excited to be there.”
Despite the Commonwealth’s detractors, this is clearly a group of countries that sees value in keeping at least a semblance of familial connectivity. This despite terms like colonialism, post-colonialism and de-colonization heavily back in vogue in certain political circles. Ironically, that and Brexit, suddenly thrust back into the modern conversation, for good or bad, an organization thought to be a dusty relic and whose relevancy was being questioned just a few years ago.
On the sporting side, like all special association or regional multi-sport events such as the Pan Am Games, Asian Games and African Games, the level in the Commonwealth Games can vary widely from sport to sport. Over the next 10 days in Birmingham, the competition will be top-flight in rugby sevens, field hockey, netball, cricket, lawn bowls and squash because most of the powerhouse nations in those sports come from within the Commonwealth. Sports such as triathlon, swimming and track occupy a sort of middle ground with enough star power to keep things more than interesting. Even with Canada’s first-string 4x100 men’s relay team begging off due to exhaustion after winning gold last weekend in the world championships, most nations gathered in Birmingham have sent their best, including a plethora of Olympic and world champions. A sport like gymnastics, however, can send its best to the Commonwealth Games and that sport will still be missing most of the world’s top performers.
But Buisa, an outstanding player and rare combination of power and speed, and her world No. 7 Langford-based Canadian women’s rugby sevens team are in the stiff-competition category in Birmingham. The equation worked the other way when Buisa and Canada won gold against lesser rugby nations at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games.
The Commonwealth Games, meanwhile, are still seen as a useful half-way measuring stick to the next Summer Olympics. For the younger athletes, it’s important to get the feel of a multi-sport Games setting before hitting the big show at the Olympics.
“This is absolutely important to learn at this multi-sport Games level before you get to your first Olympics,” said Buisa, a Tokyo Olympian. “There are so many distractions in a multi-sport Games environment that you don’t experience at your one-sport world championship or World Cup. There are athletes from so many different sports and it’s such a variety of diversity and body types in the Athletes Village, and in the big dining cafeteria, than you are used to seeing or mixing with. It’s a different vibe and it’s something you need to experience before your first Olympics, like I did at Gold Coast and Lima before Tokyo.”
The Commonwealth Games, like the organization they represent, still has legs. The 2022 edition runs today through Aug. 8 in and around Birmingham. The 2026 Commonwealth Games are in Melbourne, Australia, and the 2030 Games are expected to go to Hamilton, Ont., in honour of the centenary of the first Games in the series held in the Steel City in 1930. That will mark the fifth time hosting for Canada following Hamilton 1930, Vancouver 1954, Edmonton 1978 and Victoria 1994.
