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CA-K145Culture & sport

Players who broke the NHL’s racial barriers

Willie O’Ree in Ottawa in February 2020.
Willie O’Ree in Ottawa in February 2020. Willie O'Ree Film Screening1 (cropped) · U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Canada · Photo source · Photo licence: Public domain. Resized for display; item previews may be cropped. The image remains under the licence shown.
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Non-white athletes faced racial barriers to playing in the National Hockey League after its founding in 1917. In the league’s early decades, players such as Paul Jacobs, Henry “Elmer” Maracle, Larry Kwong, Fred Sasakamoose and Willie O’Ree confronted racism on and off the ice and broke through those barriers to reach the NHL.

Scope & context

The players named in the national historic designation, not a complete list of trailblazers or later diversity efforts.

Sources behind this record

1