B.C. man wins magic's top prize

Coquitlam, B.C.'s Shawn Farquhar knows his way around a deck of cards.Seemingly without effort, he makes cards appear and disappear, multiply, even morph into other objects.

Farquhar, 47, is so good, he justwon magic's most prestigious prize at the World Championship of Magic in Beijing.

"I was very fortunate to become the Grand Prix world champion of close-up sleight of hand magic. I was the first Canadian ever to win that," he told CBC News.

The win has opened up all kinds of doors for the fourth-generation magician to perform internationally, but it hasn't meant opportunity at home.

"I have performances now coming up in Venice, I have a 16-city tour of China and been offered a television special in Japan," he said.

But back home in Coquitlam, it's still little more than the odd charity gig.

"There doesn't seem to be a lot of support for magic as an art form in Canada," said Farquhar, who has worked almost exclusively abroad.

Joan Caesar, president of the Canadian Association of Magicians, says it's not unusual for Canadian magicians to do most of their work overseas.

"In Europe, in most countries, you have to try an exam to be called a magician. So you're good," she says.

"In Canada and the States, you can be a 13-year-old who buys a couple of magic tricks and you can call yourself a master magician. In fact, my rule of thumb is if you call yourself a master magician, or Joe Blow the Great, you probably aren't."

Caesar is pushing the Canada Council for the Arts to recognize magic as an art form.

She says that would free up some much needed grant money for budding magicians looking to hone their craft and bring it to Canadian audiences.