Celebrate Canada’s Contribution To Trek

On July 1st 1867 the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada joined together to form a ‘Federation’ and Canadians celebrate this day as a national holiday commemorating the ‘birth’ of Canada. Canada was mentioned a few times on Star Trek, but its greatest contribution is as the real-life birthplace of many Trek stars, including three series regulars.

The most notable Canadian in Trek would be William Shatner, in the video below the original Captain Kirk shows he is a proud Canadian

Here is a list Canadians in Trek (from Memory Alpha)

  • Sharon Acker (Odona in TOS: "The Mark of Gideon")
  • Joey Aresco (Brull in TNG: "The Vengeance Factor")
  • Len Cariou (Vice Admiral Janeway in VOY: "Coda")
  • Kim Cattrall (Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
  • John Colicos (Kor in TOS and DS9)
  • Nicole de Boer (Ezri Dax in DS9)
  • James Doohan (Montgomery "Scotty" Scott)
  • Rosemary Forsyth (Alzen in VOY: "Scientific Method")
  • Bruce Greenwood (Christopher Pike in Star Trek 2009 )
  • Leslie Hope (Kira Meru in DS9: "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night")
  • Robert Ito (Tac Officer Chang in TNG: "Coming of Age" / John Kim in VOY: "Author, Author")
  • Tom Jackson (Lakanta in TNG: "Journey’s End")
  • Roy Jenson (Cloud William in TOS: "The Omega Glory")
  • Kerrie Keane (Alexana Devos in TNG: "The High Ground")
  • Alissa and Heidi Krämer (Megan and Jenny Delaney in VOY: "Thirty Days")
  • Michael Mahonen (Brone in VOY: "Nemesis")
  • Barbara March (Lursa in TNG, DS9 and Star Trek Generations)
  • Derek McGrath (Chell in VOY: "Learning Curve", "Repression")
  • John McLiam (Fento in TNG: "Who Watches The Watchers")
  • Christopher Plummer (Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
  • Paul Popowich (Tim Watters in DS9: "Valiant")
  • Claire Rankin (Human form of Alice in VOY: "Alice")
  • Duncan Regehr (Ronin in TNG: "Sub Rosa" / Shakaar Edon in DS9)
  • Percy Rodriguez (Commodore Stone in TOS: "Court Martial")
  • Allan G. Royal (Braxton in VOY: "Future’s End" and "Future’s End, Part II")
  • Michael Sarrazin (Trevean in DS9: "The Quickening")
  • William Shatner (James T. Kirk)
  • Cathie Shirriff (Valkris in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
  • David Sobolov (voice of Slar in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
  • Scott Thompson (Tomin in VOY: "Someone to Watch Over Me")
  • Kate Vernon (Species 8472 impersonation of Valerie Archer in VOY: "In the Flesh")
  • Gwynyth Walsh (B’Etor in TNG, DS9 and Star Trek Generations)
  • Marc Worden (Alexander Rozhenko in DS9: "Sons and Daughters", "You Are Cordially Invited" / Klingon Prisoner in ENT: "Affliction")


Some of Trek’s Canadians

 

UPDATE: Apparently we forgot to mention one of the greatest Canadians of all. Stephen McHattie, who impersonates TrekMovie’s own resident expert, Senator Vreenak


McHattie, Romulan and Canadian

Canadians Love their Trek
Almost 8% of visitors to TrekMovie.com come from Canada (coming in a close second behind the UK for international visitors). Canada is also home to TrekMovie.com’s own Alex Fletcher, our Comics editor. The Space Channel in Canada still plays Star Trek The Original Series, Star Trek The Next Generation, and Star Trek Voyager in regular rotation, something they have done for years. This commercial for the Space Channel from 2001 makes the point well.

 

Canadian Triva

  • Maquis member Michael Eddington’s family was from Canada
  • The original captain of the USS Voyager was ‘Nicole Janeway’ played by French-Canadian Actress Genevieve Bujold (who left the show during the shooting of the pilot)
  • Quadrotriticale, the supergrain that Tribbles love to eat, was invented in Canada
  • One of DS9’s shuttles (The Yukon) was named for a river in Canada
  • The city of Vulcan, Alberta Canada embraces its Trek name with an annual Trek convention and visitors center
  • Over 5000 Canadians have applied to land two spots in NASA’s next class of Astronauts

So to all all our friends north of the border, Happy Canada Day

 

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Congrats, I had no idea there were that many Canadian actors in trek! first?

john Llyr formally of Space, is the Man, no one takes a Klingon punch like him.

Happy Canada Day!

Anyone outside of Canada, please find a Canadian Beer and raise a toast to this wonderful country of mine!

Thank You!!!!!!

Canadian girls ROCK!!!!!

Canada?
is that north of Seattle?

I always knew those Klingons were hoser heads…

I would like to point out that that list may not be complete. ;)

I think Eddington was the only known Canadian on the show. Or at least, he had a Canadian coin that seemed to go way back in his family.

Happy Canada Day!

I have never been there, but I like Canada!

Thanks for posting this Trek Movie! It’s very interesting and makes me proud when I know how deeply involved our culture is with this great franchise. I know there will be more to come after the new movie comes out and I’ll depend to hear from you guys as you report it as always! Once again, Thank you!

Happy Canada Day from this Puck Slapping Maple Sucker! ;D

More trivia:

1. The robotic arms deployed on the shuttles and the ISS are Canadian, as is the new ISS robot named Dexter.

2. Lester B. Pearson (Canadian Prime Minister 1963-68) is considered by some to be the inspiration of the Prime Directive concept for Gene Roddenberry. When he was Canada’s External Affairs Minister, Pearson originated the notion of noninterference when he masterminded the first United Nations peace-keeping force in 1956 during the Suez Crisis. For his groundbreaking work, Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.

Isn’t William T. Riker supposed to be Canadian?

Lance

Nah he’s from Alaska.

All of the following are Canadian…

AM radio
IMAX
The telephone
Television
The zipper
The music synthesizer
The electron microscope
Trivial Pursuit
Basketball
Pamela Anderson (sorry about that one)

#13 Spoctor McKirk

“Pamela Anderson (sorry about that one)”

No worries, we’re still apologizing for Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Britney Spears, Justin Guarini, and Paris Hilton… among many, many others. :P

…and, correct me if I’m wrong, Star Trek TOS premiered in Canada a day or two before it’s Sep.8/66 premiere in the U.S.

Happy 141st birthday, Canada!

#12 Of course – hence the beard!

Just a small point – we have a confederation, not a federation. But thanks for the good wishes… :-)

#11
#12

Riker’s “Canada connection” is from TNG episode “Lower Decks”. One of the junior officers on Ent-D was Sam Lavelle and Riker was his commanding officer. There was a personality conflict with Riker (he believed that Lavelle was always trying to “ingratiate himself” to RIker) and communications between the two were strained and awkward. One of Lavelle’s grandfathers was from Canada. Lavelle incorrectly believed that Riker was from Canada and in an attempt at small talk with him, Lavelle mentioned the point. Riker rather coldly corrected Lavelle and informed him that he was from Alaska. This was yet another embarassement for Lavelle and further increased his paranoia that Riker didn’t like him.

Thank you very much!

I am going to downtown Ottawa to celebrate with my fellow Canadians for beer and firework display tonight!

Wow! Thanks TrekMovie for the birthday wishes! Yes we are big Trek fans up here and are very proud of our participation in Trek.

@13 guess hockey wasn’t mentioned because its a given, he? ;D

Oh you forgot to add Stephen McHattie. He played a Romulan senator who screamed “IT’S FAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” in DS9. He is from Nova Scotia.

I loved that commercial, LOL.

I’m an American with deep respect and affection for our neighbors to the north. Canadians are awesome.

Does anyone know if Bill Shatner has retained his Canadian citizenship, or has he converted?

Scott B. out.

More Canadiana!

Sir Frederick Banting and Dr. Charles Best developed insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921 – 1922.

The world’s first wireless message was received by G. Marconi in 1910 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Canada’s first Train Robbery happened on September 10, 1904. One of the robbers was Bill Miner, a well known U.S. stage-coach and train robber.

Manzo Nagano became the first official Japanese immigrant (1877) to Canada.

On December 9, 1775 the first Post Office in Canada opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

James Naismith, a Canadian, created basketball at an American university in 1891.

Oh yeah, Joe Shuster is Canadian.

Happy 141st to Canada!!!!

And then there’s STNV’s elusive Ron Boyd….

Canada ROCKS.

Toronto is one of my favorite cities ever…

AND, Battlestar Galactica is filmed in Vancouver, and MANY of the stars of the show hail from various parts of Canada.

Happy Canada Day!

Has 17.David Say we have a confederation, not a federation

May be in a few years we will have the federation of planet BUT not yet…..

Happy CANADA day…….

it puzzled me that Starfleet adopted the Mountie uniforms for many of tha’ films… looked good… I wear a replica o’ it for formal events aboard ship… got a maple syrup stain on tha’ coat’s white flappy part…

then there wuz tha’ time the USS Celine Dion was attacked by a space moose… turns oot it wuz a Rommie ship but Ensign Hanson couldn’t see tha’ radar correctly as his eye wuz swollen from a puck ta’ tha socket…

I feel all warm and sticky wrapped in the bonny maple syrup o’ Canada… but ye’ can keep yer “bacon”… sorry, mates…

ain’t Quebec City aboot ta’ turn over ta’ 400?

Arrrrrr…

Anne Murray would make a great Klingon.

Paul Schaeffer should be the Vulcan science officer on Farran Tahir’s ship.

And… Harry Ballz as the Beaver.

Interesting that the actresses who played the Duras sisters are both Canadian.

Small nit: I don’t think Quadrotriticale itself was supposed to be invented in Canada, but that it was derived from a Canadian grain. I believe the episode states that…”the root grain, Triticale, can be traced back to 20th century Canada…” .

13. Basketball is from Springfield, MA. Just one town from where I grew up. It was invented by James Naismith at the YMCA as an off-season sport for the football team. Originally they used peach baskets instead of hoops. The Basketball Hall of Fame recently went under renovation and perhaps besides Dr. Suess, is the thing folks from Springfield seem most proud.

Thanks for the bloopers its been a long time since I’ve seen those and it made me laugh.

I’m Canadian (from Toronto). Love Space Channel. I just wish they would start showing DS9 again! I can’t find it on any Canadian channels.

#13,
Actually Alexander Graham Bell was a Scotsman who moved to Canada when he was 18, so credit cannot be given due to geography,

Scottish inventions;
-adhesive postage stamps -anesthetics -antisepsis -artificial diamonds -reaping machine
-Bank of England -latent heat -Brownian movement -Buicks -chemical bonds -penicillin
-the decimal point -documentary films -Encyclopedia Britannica -engineering sciences
-fax machines -first cloned mammal -flailing machines -geosciences -golf -historical novels
-hypodermic syringes -Kelvin scale -percussion powder -logarithms -Maxwell’s equations
-marmalade -mackintosh raincoats -macadamized roads -microwave ovens -colloid chemistry
-breech-loading rifle -tubular steel -quinine -Sociology -pneumatic tires -hollow pipe drainage
-Peter Pan -radar -paleobiology -polarization -cure for scurvy -Halloween -refrigerators
-Neptune -Bakelite -iron bridges -solitons -the steam engine –telephones -thermos flasks/dewars -the telegraph -television -the stereotype -sulphuric acid -the steam-hammer
-cure for insomnia -paraffin -Sherlock Holmes -Jekyll and Hyde
-Whisky -US Navy-(founded by John Paul Jones) -Chilean Navy -Economics -Cloud Chamber

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Canada. I LIVE in Canada.
Canada rocks!

Just a small point – we have a confederation, not a federation. But thanks for the good wishes… :-)

Actually, we’re a constitutional monarchy. God save the Queen and pass the maple syrup!!

Happy Birthday, Canada. You’ve been a great home to me!

I think Eddington was the only known Canadian on the show. Or at least, he had a Canadian coin that seemed to go way back in his family.

Happy Canada Day!

It’s called a loonie and is worth a dollar. Great Canadian touch on that show.

Didn’t Canada invade America once and win? Why did they give it back? :-)

From Beautiful Victoria ,British Columbia, Canada…

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!!

We also invented time zones thank you very much!

And even though this will mean nothing to people not from Canada we are also the home of one Mr. Tommy Douglas!!!!

And as a Victorian I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Grammy winners and giant recording stars David Foster and Nelly Furtado and the NBA’s multiple MVP award winning Steve Nash

34. I think he may have been referring to Elisha Grey, also a Canadian. There was a long dispute and legal case about who was the proper inventor of the telephone. But as far as Bell, if you were to discount his native geography, then you must credit where he actually developed the telephone: Boston University.

Oh, and in addition to basketball, Massachusetts also invented volleyball, in Holyoke.

But yeah, Canada’s great. I love Montreal and Toronto seemed cool too.

Here the video the shat was inspired…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg

#29 CmdrR “And Harry Ballz………as the Beaver”

CmdrR, now how did you know my nickname back in high school???

It’s very nice of all our Trek friends to remember us Canadians on our national holiday! Thanks!!

Happy Canada day, I would love to go there some day…

Blame Canada!

Happy Canada Day from Saskatoon!

By the way, Wesley Crusher took a ski trip to my home town of Calgary, as mentioned in the episode The First Duty, I wonder if The Stampede will still be going on?!

Happy Canada Day from the birthplace of confederation… Prince Edward Island! Which is where I am right now, beer in hand. Every summer the population here doubles or more. There’s a massive cruise ship I can see from my backyard, people are eating ice cream and wandering around Charlottetown enjoying the sun.

36. Selek – the ‘canadian coin’ Eddington had was what he called a “lucky loonie”. We call our $1 coin a ‘loonie’ because of the bird on it.

Last I heard Bill was still Canadian because “he was too afraid to take the citizenship test.” I don’t remember where I heard him say it, but I recall him being asked that in an interview sometime in the last few years.

#41 – Didn’t know Harry was Canadian. That’s a good thing. With our winters we need Harry Ballz!

I am so glad that Trekmovie is celebrating the awesomeness that is my country! Go Canada Go!