Pictured: Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed. In 2009, Ubisoft announced it was coming to Canada, and bringing about 800 new jobs into the creative community.

You don’t need to go back to the beginning of the decade to discover evidence of the rapid change that the Canadian media landscape has recently undergone. It was really only in the last few years that this country has embraced what was colloquially termed ‘new media’ in the overall entertainment industry – and even better, became a world leader in the field.

Case in point: The $350 million Canada Media Fund, formerly known as the Canadian Television Fund. The change to the primary media funding mechanism came this past year and signified a major industry shift, mandating interactive components for all projects going forward.

We’ve come a long way from when interactive simply meant tacking on a website. That mentality just won’t do anymore, especially for content creators looking to tap into dollars from Telefilm, Bell Broadcast & New Media Fund and Ontario Media Development Corporation, to name only a few.

It’s no wonder the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) projects that this country is expected to be the fastest growing entertainment and media market in North America, with 5% annual growth. Canada also has the most third successful video game industry in the world.

These ESAC stats are not only indicative of how far this country has come, but also a positive sign of things to come in the interactive space.

Just look at the millions of dollars recently invested in the games industry alone: Ubisoft Toronto, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in Montreal. Those are three major global players making new homes in Canada, bringing with them more than 1,500 jobs for writers, animators, voice actors and other media specialists.

Those jobs are added to ones already available in the Silicon Valleys of the North in Vancouver and Montreal. The gaming industry in Canada alone currently employs 14,000 people, and is expected to grow 29% annually in the coming years.

The digital landscape has been shaped by the traditional media realm that came before it, and as Canada moves into the next decade, there’s little doubt that it will continue growing into its own.