Round 8 of 8: April

Judge: Pascal de Decker

CO-PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, TAXI MTL

Judge's Comments

In general, I found that the ideas were very cliché : all the Syrians know how to make carpets (it is like saying that all the French know how to make croissants), or everyone knows that the Syrians are good swimmers (!!!!!), etc

There was a lack of understanding of the reality of immigrants. Too often, I have seen ideas that suggest using the Syrians as cheap labor or taking on jobs that Canadians do not want to do (night or weekend shifts). That only reinforces the ghettos. There were also many copies of the very beautiful idea of Brazil that put American retirees in contact with Brazilian students who wanted to learn English.