Originally Posted by
Jim Kelly
Since Glenn Ford played Jonathan Kent (Ford was born in Quebec and in fact he's the great nephew of our first Prime Minister, John A. MacDonald), I'd like Jonathan to be Canadian born, but this seems unlikely if the Kent family has held that farm for generations. Martha Clark seems more likely, given that she's been portrayed as someone who came from elsewhere and moved to Smallville when she married Jonathan.
It blows my mind that fans have a problem with this. Canadians do actually move to the United States and Americans move to Canada. Why shouldn't that be a fact in the comics? Why so little of Canada in the DC books? There are very few characters from there. Yet the comics are full of characters from Russia, China, India, Japan, Ireland, England, France, Australia. Canada is on the same continent--and many Canadians live within a few miles of the States, in some cases right across the street from the USA.
Joe Shuster was born in Toronto. He was a paper boy for the Daily Star. He was Jewish. His father, Julius, came from the Netherlands and his mother, Ida, came from the Ukraine. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, when he was about ten years old. At Glenville High School, he met Jerome Siegel and the two started up a science fiction fanzine. While Julius moved to the United States, his brother remained in Toronto and the two sides of the family kept in touch, with Joe often going back to Toronto for visits. Joe's cousin was Frank Shuster--one half of the popular comedy duo, Wayne & Shuster, who had their own comedy specials on the CBC for decades. Wayne & Shuster influenced many of the Canadian comedians we know and Frank's daughter Rosie was a writer for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. Joe Shuster said that he modelled Metropolis after Toronto.
Margot Kidder was born in Yellowknife, NWT. Jack Warner (one of the Warner Brothers) was born in London, Ontario. Win Mortimer was born in Hamilton, Ontario and was a Canadian soldier in WWII, before coming to the USA and working for DC. Alvin Schwartz was an American, but moved to Canada after he left his job at DC, and in Canada he got a job working for the National Film Board. Curt Swan was born in the USA, but his grandparents lived in Canada before moving to the States. Marty Pasko claims to have been born in Quebec. Erica Durance, Kristin Kreuk, Shawn and Aaron Ashmore are all Canadian. Tom Grummett, Canadian. Darwyn Cooke, Canadian. Ty Templeton, Canadian. John Byrne was born in England, moved to Canada when he was 8, became a comics artist-writer in Calgary and years later moved to the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1988.
The first three Christopher Reeve Superman movies were filmed in part in Canada. MAN OF STEEL was filmed partly in Canada. The SMALLVILLE and SUPERGIRL TV shows are both Canadian productions (filmed in Vancouver).