Can you imagine what life would be like without telephones, zippers or chocolate bars? Those are just a few of the many inventions whipped up by clever Canadians. In fact, Canadians have patented more than one million inventions in a range of categories, including:
If you like boardgames, chances are you’ve probably played Ballderdash, Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit, or Pictionary, but did you know these popular games were invented by Canadians? Other forms of entertainment, like Cirque du Soleil’s re-invention of circus art, are enjoyed all over the world, for example:
- Five-Pin bowling, invented in 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan from Toronto, Ontario. The Canadian 5-Pin Bowling Association says that well-to-do customers complained about the size and weight of the tenpin bowling balls, saying the game was too strenuous. This led Ryan to experiment, creating the five-pin version with smaller bowling balls.
- The brand name Imax, short for Image Maximum, is a film format created by the Canadian Imax Corporation based out of Mississauga, Ontario. Today, over 700 million people have experienced the stunning technology in Imax theatres located in 40 countries around the world.
- Superman, the widely successful American superhero, has entertained the world through comic books, movies, television shows and Saturday-morning cartoons but did you know Superman was created by Canadian Joe Shuster? For more information on Canadian comic books, visit the Beyond the Funnies Web site presented by Library and Archives Canada.
Chew on this: Canadians have invented more than just Beaver Tails, Tim Bits and Poutine, for example:
- McIntosh apples were a Canadian discovery made by John McIntosh in 1811. He first found 20 trees in the woods of his new farm in Ontario and decided to transplant those trees to produce more but all died, exept one. Years later, that one tree was still producing apples. Today, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada describes apples as the most important fruit crop in Canada, and the fourth most important worldwide after all citrus fruit, grapes and bananas.
 Rapeseeds, from which canola oil is extracted, were initially bred in Canada. The first edible rapeseed oil was extracted in 1956. Around 1970, the term “Canola” was registered meaning Canadian Low Acid Oil. Today, more than 70 percent of Canada’s canola crop is exported around the world.
- In 1969, Walter Chell a bartender at a hotel in Calgary, Alberta, was asked to create a new drink. He spent many months perfecting a mixture of tomato juice, hand-mashed clams, vodka and Worcestershire sauce. He then garnished it with a celery stick and called it a Bloody Caesar. Recipes for this popular happy-hour drink can be found online.
- Ginger ale, originally called Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale, was first created by a pharmacist and chemist named John J. McLaughlin. Canada Dry says it all started in 1904, when McLaughlin opened a small plant in Toronto, Ontario, to manufacture soda. With a few key ingredients, he created the new drink. McLaughlin also developed a method of mass bottling his ginger ale and each bottle had a map of Canada and a picture of a beaver on the label. Now, that’s Canadian!
- The Ganong family of St. Stephens, New Brunswick, were the first to introduce the chocolate bar. The idea originally came along when, in 1910, Arthur Ganong and George Ensor, factory superintendents, wanted to take chocolate along with them on fishing trips so they created nut-bars. They later sold them for five cents each.
- Pablum is described in Bill Casselman’s book, Canadian Food Words, as the result of three doctors’ search for a simple and nutritious breakfast for infants. After mastering the recipe, they humourisly named their product using the latin term pabulum, meaning “horse feed.”
Inventions from Canada in the field of science and technology have made significant contributions to our world.
 Some of the commonly known great Canadian inventions include the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, the Canadarm which has been part of NASA’s space mission since 1981, the Java technology developed by James Gosling, and the snowmobile invented by Joseph-Armand Bombardier in 1937. You may have also known about Wonderbra, the revolutionary bra designed by Louise Poirier, using a secret technology to maximize cleavage, but you might be amazed to find out that:
- The light bulb, commonly attributed to Thomas Edison, was first patented around 1873 by Henry Woodward, a Toronto medical student. In fact, the first incandescent lamp with a light bulb patent was sold in part to Thomas Edison, in 1875.
- In 1923, Frederick Banting, a Canadian medical student was awarded the Nobel Prize for his co-discovery of insulin. While others had indicated that diabetes was caused by lack of insulin, a protein hormone secreted in the pancreas, Banting was the first to discover a successful method of extracting the hormone from the organ. Today, patients with Type 1 diabetes depend on insulin for survival.
- The Pacemaker was invented by Wilfred Gordon Bigelow from Brandon, Manitoba. While researching hypothermia, Bigelow developed a device, the first implantable cardiac pacemaker, to maintain the heart’s rate. Today, the pacemaker is used to treat various fatal heart conditions.
- The electric wheelchair for quadriplegics was invented by George J. Klein, an engineer from Hamilton, Ontario. Today, electric wheelchairs are available in three basic models and help millions of people remain mobile so that they can attend to their everyday activities.
Other equally important Canadian science and tech inventions and discoveries include the cystic fibrosis gene, the Actar 911 Dummy used in CPR training, electric hand prostheses for children, the Panoramic camera, the Walkie-Talkie and the ear piercer. The story of Canadian scientific and technological heritage is well documented online at the Canada Science and Technology Museum Hall of Fame site.
You probably didn’t think twice the last time you watched an instant replay on television, but it too is a wonderful Canadian creation. Canada has also had its hand in creating and developping many sports, now played internationally:
 The game of basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891, in the city of Montréal, Quebec. Naismith, a physical education teacher, was asked to invent a game that would not take up much room, was not too rough and could be played indoors. Little did Naismith know that basketball would become one of the world’s most popular sports.
- The game of ice hockey, often attributed to Canadians, has in fact, an unknown origin. Although, it is documented that Canada did play a major part in evolving the sport from its earliest days.
 In 1959, the face of hockey changed forever with Jacques Plante’s significant contribution to the sport. His idea for a goalie mask, now modernized, is used to this day to helped save lives and prevent injuries during the game.
By Anat Cohn, September 2007
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