The history of FIRST in Canada is somewhat complex, as the international version of FIRST was preceded by... what was it called... Canada FIRST? I'm not personally up on all the ins and outs and details as we did not get involved until the FIRST Canadian Regional (now the GTR) was up and running and Canada FIRST was no more.
My understanding, however, from those who have tried both, is that this is a good thing, and I believe you can find out more from
team 188, Woburn Robotics, the first non-US FRC team.
Jason