Gamestop Canada has confirmed that they too will also be holding the Raikou, Entei, Suicune events at the same time as the United States. The poster also confirms that Quebec will get a French version of Pokémon Black and White as well. Below are the details and the dates that Raikou, Entei, Suicune will be available.

Raikou, Entei, Suicune Events

The Legendary Pokémon Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are as elusive as they are powerful, but now you can track down each one during a special character distribution event at participating GameStop stores!

Not only is each of these Pokémon Shiny - meaning it is a different color than usual - but each also knows movies it cannot normally learn! Raikou can take advantage of weather conditions with the Weather Ball move, Entei can engulf its foe in fire with Flare Blitz, Suicune can get a lucky on-hit Knock Out with Sheer Cold, and all three can learn ExtremeSpeed, to name just a few! This powerful arsenal will make these Pokémon ready for even your toughest battles!

Raikou, Entei, Suicune come in Cherish Balls, a feature of Pokémon that you obtain through special distributions. They will also appear with a Classic Ribbon, another mark of their unique stats in your Pokémon collection!

There's even more to these special shiny Pokémon: when you transfer them to your copy of Pokémon Black Version or Pokémon White Version, you'll get a chance to catch the elusive Pokémon Zoroark - a Pokémon you can't get through normal gameplay!

And don't forget you can see Zoroark in action, as well as watch the Shiny Raikou, Entei, and Suicune when they all appear in the upcoming Pokémon movie, Pokémon - Zoroark: Master of Illusions.

The distribution for these incredible Shiny Pokémon won't last long. This exciting opportunity begins in early January 2011 in participating GameStop stores wit the distribution of Raikou. The excitement continues in late January and early February, when you will have your chance to receive Entei and Suicune. You'll only be able to get each of these Pokémon once per game, and you must bring your copy of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, or SoulSilver Version games (as well as your Nintendo DS system!) to receive the Legendary Pokémon.


Raikou - January 3rd, 2011 to January 9th, 2011.
Entei - January 17th, 2011 to January 23rd, 2011.
Suicune - January 31st, 2011 to February 6th, 2011.
Source: Gamestop Canada

I feel like this is the first time that they've acknowledged that they have Canadian versions of these stores, too and let them in on it.

Indeed it does. Toys 'R' US and EBGames were generally the ones that carried the events here if they event held them at all. Good to see that were getting the events here too.

I wonder, is it defined by law that in Canada games should have versions in both languages? I remember reading somethign along these lines but perhaps my memory is playing tricks.
If so then this would be another factor that forced the concurrent release across America and Europe.

It is a Quebec provincial law, meaning its only applicable in Quebec. When I saw that they were releasing a French version, I was very surprised as French games here aren't that popular as the article states. I'm assuming that Nintendo is just going to use the French version for France in Quebec and is probably the only reason they are distributing it at all in French here in Canada.

More info on the law and the implications: http://www.thestar.com/article/611472