By the end of 1959 Canadian doctors started to hand out thousands of Thalidomide sample pills to their patients. They had received those pills from US drug company Richardson-Merrell. Officially Thalidomide was available in Canada from April 1, 1961 to March 2, 1962 under the trade-names “Kevadon” and “Talimol”.

Source: Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada “The Many Faces of Thalidomide (from 1957 to 1966) compiled by Randolph Warren May 7, 1999.