Amik was the mascot of the 1976 Summer Olympics. Amik was a beaver. In the Anishinaabe language, amik means "beaver." The beaver or "amik" was chosen as mascot, because the beaver represents hard work. The beaver is also an animal native to Canada.

The 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, officially called the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event in Montreal, Quebec, in 1976, and the first Olympic Games held in Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. It is so far the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in Canada. Calgary and Vancouver later hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively.

Twenty-nine countries, mostly African, boycotted the Montreal Games when the International Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations' calls for a sporting embargo.

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