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Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
File No. 217814 · Adjudicated
James Naismith
Other — Inventor of basketball (1891)
Born
1861
Birthplace
NOVEMBER 6, CANADA WEST
Citizenships
CA
Canadianness Score
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
5.0/ 5
Weighted across 2 scored criteria
Designation
Bleeds Maple Syrup 🍁Born, raised, and still says “out for a rip” unironically.
Scorecard
Path A — born on Canadian soilI. Origin
Born on Canadian soil — yes
NOVEMBER 6, CANADA WEST
Canadian parentage — not scored
Both parents Canadian
Citizenship on record — not scored
Automatic by birth
II. Residency
Formative years spent in Canada — yes
Raised — Canada West
Lived in Canada by choice — not scored
Residency on record as an adult
Worked or filmed in Canada — not scored
Credits filed north of the 49th
III. Cultural evidence — not scored
Section III is recorded for the file only. Birth on Canadian soil already settles the matter.
Publicly claims to be Canadian — not scored
Has never brought it up
Canada claims them back — not scored
Claimed, enthusiastically
Fun fact
Canada's gift to the world wasn't hockey — it was basketball, invented by a PE teacher from Almonte, Ontario.
The verdict
Invented basketball in 1891 while teaching at a YMCA in Massachusetts, but studied at McGill and grew up in Almonte, Ontario. Spent most of his adult life in the U.S., but Canada proudly claims him as the genius behind the sport — even if he had to leave home to make it happen.
Adjudicated by
The Standings Committee
Status
Final — appealable
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References — en.wikipedia.org