Pokémon in Canada: Difference between revisions

Pokémon in Canada
Flag of Canada
Languages	English and Canadian French
Continent	North America
Original anime airdates
EP001
AG001
DP001
BW001
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first reached Canada in the late 1990s with the release of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions and the airing of the anime.

Pokémon video games

All Pokémon games that have been released in the United States have also been released in Canada, with the exception of the Pokémon mini. Pokémon games sold in Canada are direct imports of the American versions, so spelling variations such as color and center are not changed to colour and centre for release in Canada. Bilingual packaging and French-language instruction manuals are required by law to be included with the sale of all video games, however, no Pokémon games have received French-language translations.

Nintendo Events typically do not reach Canada, although Canadian players may download Wi-Fi events. The introduction of Wi-Fi events has allowed Canadian players access to many previously unavailable event Pokémon.

Pokémon anime

The English dub of the Pokémon anime has aired in Canada on YTV since Pokémon - I Choose You! debuted. In addition to the English dub airing nationally, a French-language dub was recorded and produced in the province of Québec. It is based on the English dub by 4Kids Entertainment. Unlike the European French dub, the Canadian French dub retains all of the character names and Pokémon names used in the English version. The Canadian French dub of the Pokémon anime aired on Télétoon. Although Télétoon has removed Pokémon from its schedule, it still occasionally airs the Pokémon movies. The Canadian French dub of Pokémon ceased production approximately around Pokémon: Master Quest, although the movies continued to be dubbed until Destiny Deoxys. Currently, the Canadian French dub of Pokémon does not air on any channel.

In some areas of Canada, The WB (now The CW) is available on cable. With this, Canadians were been able to watch the newest English-dubbed episodes on Kids' WB! before they aired on YTV. Since Cartoon Network became the USA's provider of the Pokémon anime in 2006, Canadians must now wait until the dubbed episodes air on YTV to watch them due to the fact that Cartoon Network is only available in the USA.

Home videos

The Canadian home video releases of the anime series have never been bilingual. The English dub is released on home video by VIZ Media. The French dub was released on VHS and DVD by Imavision Distribution, but their license to distribute the series has expired and their Pokémon titles have gone out of print.

All Pokémon movies prior to Lucario and the Mystery of Mew have been released in Canada on bilingual DVDs. These DVDs would either contain both the English and French dubs on separate audio tracks, or with the English audio track only but with the option to add French subtitles. However, no Pokémon movies have been dubbed into Canadian French since Destiny Deoxys, so all subsequent Pokémon movies have been only available in English as VIZ Media (who began distributing the movies starting with Lucario and the Mystery of Mew) has chosen not to include French subtitles on their Canadian DVD releases.

Cast and Crew

For information about the voice cast from the English dub, see List of English voice actors.

Many voice actors have contributed to the production of the Canadian French dub of Pokémon. Sébastien Reding provided the voice of Ash Ketchum. Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum, was voiced by Nathalie Coupal. Misty was voiced by Kim Jalabert, Brock was voiced by Martin Watier, and Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Joël Legendre.

Jessie was voiced by Christine Séguin, James was voiced by Antoine Durand, and Meowth was voiced by François Sasseville. Their boss, Giovanni, was voiced by Daniel Picard.

Professor Oak was voiced by Alain Sauvage. Another Pokémon Professor, Professor Elm, was voiced by Pierre Chagnon.

Other notable voice actors of the Canadian French dub include Julie Burroughs, who provided the voice for Nurse Joy, and Camille Cyr-Desmarais, the voice of Officer Jenny.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game have been sold in Canada since the introduction of the Base Set. English-language cards are imported from the United States to be sold in Canadian stores. Originally, only English-language cards were available, but many French-speaking parents felt this was unfair to their children, who also did not have a French-language Pokémon video game. As a result, Wizards of the Coast, which had recently started selling Pokémon cards in France, began to import these French-language cards for sale in Québec. Today, French-language cards are recognized as tournament legal in Pokémon Organized Play.

Pokémon merchandise

Canada receives most of the same Pokémon merchandise available in the United States, such as plush toys and foods. All four Burger King promotions have also been available at Canadian Burger King outlets. Per national laws, all Pokémon toys and other merchandise come in bilingual packaging.

A fully bilingual version of the Pokémon Master Trainer board game was released for sale in Canada. Several of Tracey West's Pokémon chapter books based on the anime were also translated into French for sale in Québec.

This article is part of Project Globe, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world.