Raptors President, Ujiri Gets Canada’s Highest Honour

Toronto Raptors President, Masai Ujiri is among the dozens of people newly named to Canada’s highest civilian honour.

Governor-General Mary Simon announced 85 appointments to the Order of Canada yesterday, including three companions, 22 officers and 60 members. Some other appointees are actor and writer Dan Levy and Cree artist Kent Monkman according to a Sportsnet report.

The report states that Ujiri was named an officer to the Order of Canada for his “contributions on and off the basketball court,” as both president of an NBA team and as a humanitarian.

Masai who first played for the Nigerian national team, D’Tigers in the 1997 Afrobasket in Dakar, Senegal has been involved humanitarian service to different communities since 2003 using the game of basketball as a tool.

He held his first major camp with the Giants of Africa in 2003 in Zaria, Nigeria with coaches from Europe, the USA and Nigeria with very little resources. He has continued to give growth opportunities to young Africans with that programme that trains them basically for life on and outside the basketball court.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the GOA programme could not run because of crowd control but rather than let the months run out wastefully Masai embarked upon building basketball courts across Africa especially in the areas in dire need of sporting facilities.

In 2021, Giants of Africa launched the ‘Built Within’ 100-court initiative and have unveiled 26 basketball facilities in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Somalia to date.

To celebrate the organisation’s 20th anniversary, the inaugural Giants of Africa Festival will bring together over 250 youth from 16 countries across Africa to Kigali, Rwanda for a week-long celebration of basketball, education, culture, and entertainment from August 13 to 19.

In a statement, the Governor General said the appointees “make our communities and our country better every day.”

While celebrating Masai and the other appointees today, Simon said “we must also acknowledge that work remains to ensure that Canadian honours better reflect the full diversity of our country.

“Nominations continue to fall short of representing the excellence achieved by women, Francophones, persons with disabilities, and people from culturally diverse backgrounds,” she said.

The Order of Canada was created in 1967 and recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. More than 7,800 people have been invested.