Do we like Don Cherry?
Our score: 3 out of 10. Decades of remarks aimed at immigrants, Quebecers, Inuit hunters and women reporters, balanced by real charity and no apology.
Don Cherry was born in Kingston, Ontario, in 1934. He ground out about 16 minor-league seasons as a defenceman, played a single NHL game for Boston, then became a coaching star. He won the Jack Adams Award with the Bruins in 1976 and later made his name on Hockey Night in Canada's Coach's Corner, which ran for about 39 years.
The loud suits and blunt opinions were the brand, and the bluntness regularly landed on groups of people. He was accused of bigotry over remarks about Swedish, Finnish and Russian players and about French Canadians. Bell pulled ads in Quebec in 1998 after he called Quebecers whiners, and in 2015 he called the Inuit savages over sealing, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. In 2013 he said women shouldn't be in men's dressing rooms, and the Association for Women in Sports Media criticised his stance.
The big one was November 2019. In a Coach's Corner rant he criticised Toronto-area immigrants for not wearing Remembrance Day poppies, saying “you people”. Sportsnet fired him two days later, saying he had made divisive remarks. The NHL called the remarks offensive, and his co-host Ron MacLean apologised for not pushing back. Cherry denied he was aiming at minorities and said he'd refuse to be “a tame robot who nobody would recognize”.
On the harm test, the pattern is the problem. These were his own words, on national TV, over decades, and the target moved between immigrants, Quebecers, Inuit hunters and women reporters. He refused to apologise, telling a podcast he'd explain himself but not apologise. I found nothing from him on LGBTQ+ or trans people, and nothing on climate or vaccines, so the fail rests on the migrants, Indigenous and women remarks.
The recent noise is about honours. In February 2026 Ontario appointed him to the Order of Ontario, citing his coaching, his military, police and youth sports support, and his pet rescue foundation. Premier Doug Ford said the Scotiabank Arena crowd would “go ballistic” for him. Then Conservative MPs started an Order of Canada petition, and some Quebec Conservatives said no, citing his remarks about Quebec.
The good stuff is real. He founded Rose Cherry's Home for Kids, now the Darling Home for Kids, in memory of his late wife, and he advocates for organ donation. He has also backed the military and police, and his pet rescue foundation raises money for registered rescue groups. He picked up the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service in 2011, and fans love him for it.