YouTube Channel ‘encore+’ is Streaming All of Canada’s Best TV Shows

Christmas has come early for lovers of Canadian television.

A collaboration between the Canada Media Fund and Google Canada is bringing some of Canada’s most iconic shows and films to YouTube.

The channel, called encore+, has been in planning for years and is now live. All shows are neatly organized into playlists, some of which are available digitally for the very first time.

Some of the more notable titles include Mr. Dressup, Are You Afraid Of The Dark? (EN and FR), Degrassi Junior High (EN and FR), Da Vinci’s Inquest, Due South (EN and FR), Little Mosque on the Prairie, The Littlest Hobo, Slings and Arrows, and Ready or Not!

Check out a trailer for the channel below:

“We discovered that there are about 22,000 titles of Canadian content, financed by the public sector, that was not available to the public because it was stuck in analog,” said Canada Media Fund CEO Valerie Creighton. “I still get calls every day at work: Where can I find ‘Mr. Dressup’? Where can I find ‘Littlest Hobo’?”

An official launch for the channel was attended by many stars of the aforementioned shows, many of whom shared their excitement about a “second wind” for their content.

Michael Riley, of “This is Wonderland” “The Littlest Hobo” and ‘Due South,” fame, said most Canadian projects “get that little airing window and then they disappear, never to be seen again. It’s kind of nice, after three decades in this business, to see a platform where there’s going to be a resurgence.”

Notable exceptions include The Raccoons, Big Wolf on Campus, Fries With That?, Radio Active, and Reboot, though perhaps those are on the way.

If you happen to binge through the entire catalogue in a weekend, don’t forget that  Historica Canada has also uploaded their entire collection of Heritage Minutes to YouTube.

encore+ and chill, anyone?