Ilanaaq

I didn't look into it until today, but I did recognize the logo of the Winter Games as soon as I saw it. That's because of a curio I bought at the airport in Toronto a couple of years ago:

Among a selection of key chains, coffee mugs and t-shirts, this bit of glass sculpture stood out. Made, the label took pains to assure buyers, by a genuine First Nation artisan, not a chap who speaks Cantonese. It's supposed to be reminiscent of the cairns (inukshuk) built by the First Nations of the Arctic, or at least one kind of the cairns, the man-like variety.

The Games logo, known as Ilanaaq, is likewise supposed to evoke the cairns, though the one built in Whistler is a good bit larger than my two-inch curio. Naturally, not everyone is happy with the design, since there's no pleasing everyone. I'm curious why the logo wasn't more British Columbia-specific, though I'm not sure what that would be.

The cartoon mascots of the Winter Games -- based on native mythology and called Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and Mukmuk -- are more forgettable than Ilanaaq, and about as pre-school as Olympic mascots usually are, but at least they're supposed to be British Columbian (I think). Still, something's missing from this group of mascots. A cross-dressing lumberjack, maybe?