Pokémon in Canada
| Pokémon in 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 recieved 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!. 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 currently 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 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 seperate audio tracks, or with the English audio track only but with the option to add French subtitles. Beginning with Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, VIZ Media has distributed the home videos of the Pokémon movies, which are available exclusively in English.
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 provides the voice of Ash Ketchum, Misty was voiced by Kim Jalabert, and Brock was voiced by Martin Watier. Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Joël Legendre.
Jessie is voiced by Christine Séguin and James is voiced by Antoine Durand. Meowth is voiced by François Sasseville.
Alain Sauvage provided the voice for Professor Oak. Nurse Joy was voiced by Julie Burroughs and Officer Jenny was voiced by Camille Cyr-Desmarais.
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[1]. As a result, retailers began importing French-language cards from France. Today, French-language cards are recognized as tournament legal in Pokémon Organized Play.
