What "We The North" Means for Canada

A friend of mine is a die-hard Raptors fan. She’s out at bars, viewing parties, and Scotiabank Arena multiple times a season. Last week, for the first time in her many years of fandom, her immigrant parents who don't read English news asked whether she was going out to watch the Toronto Raptors.

What started as a fanbase of outsiders who weren’t enthralled with hockey, has taken over the collective minds and consciousnesses of the city, country and sports fans around the world.

The much-maligned franchise is under the microscope after years of hopeful seasons ending in demoralizing losses and players refusing to join the team. But widen the lens and you’ll see that the reputation of the city of Toronto, and by extension, Canada, are soaring higher than a Pascal Siakam alley-oop.

It starts with the sports media. Journalists are north of the border for their first extended stay and every one of them has nothing but glowing reports about how great the city is. Whether it’s Shaquille O’Neil and Charles Barkley singing O Canada, the dedication displayed by fans lining up for two days to get into Jurassic Park, or the Toronto police announcing that there were zero arrests during the street filling Eastern Conference celebrations, the American sports media is finally giving Toronto the attention it deserves.

It’s not just ESPN and the evening news that are covering the city right now, Canada’s reputation and positive publicity is growing well beyond the realm of North American sports. A Jimmy Kimmel segment that runs with the idea that ‘Canadians are nice’, has 1.8 million hits in less than a week on YouTube along with his 2-3 million average American viewership. Raptors Superfan, Nav Bhatia, is now a global and very Canadian immigration story being covered by news outlets from the BBC to the Wall Street Journal.

Finally, we have Drake. While his antics may seem over the top to some, there is no doubt that he has helped make the 6ix “cool” to millions of young people who listen to his music. ZenithOptimedia estimated that Drake’s endorsement of the city is worth $3 billion. Yes, the Blue Jays’ back to back World Series runs put the city on the map, but the Raptors turned Toronto into a place where people want to be.

So far, I’ve described things that we Torontonians and Canadians already know. Yes, we do live in a pretty amazing country, it just took a while for the rest of the world to notice. But this team, the players on the court wearing “NORTH” jerseys, are representative of the Canadian spirit. From Darcy Tucker to John McDonald, Toronto sports fans have a history of falling in love with players who aren’t the most talented but put in the hard work to be the best they can be. This Raptors team is full of guys like that. Fred VanVleet is undersized and went undrafted, Kawhi Leonard’s celebrations are so muted that people joke that he is a robot, and Kyle Lowry’s best attributes are the ones that don’t show up on the stats sheet.

The values behind this roster are numerous and admirable. This past summer, Marc Gasol volunteered with rescue ships helping migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite facing racism about the accuracy of his age, Serge Ibaka still runs charitable organizations in Toronto and his native Congo. At every interview, Pascal Siakam plays for his father who passed away after he was “discovered” from his village in Cameroon at a free basketball camp.

It was at a similar camp in Kenya where fellow African and Raptors President, Masai Ujiri, made the trade that kickstarted this season of unprecedented success. At the time, he was with none other than his friend and future NBA finals guest, Barack Obama. That’s the level of respect and exposure the organization is getting right now.

The Raptors are one game away from the pinnacle of the world’s second most global sport. A local reputation boost will never be entirely quantifiable but there's no doubt that there are more people who will want to visit and live here thanks to basketball. While the team has earned many fans along the way, the country has earned even more admirers. That's what We The North means for Canada.