As far as I've been able to find out, Guelph is considered to be the top school in Canada, nothing official, but talking to professors, artists, gallerists and curators Guelph seems to have the best reputation. I'm waiting to hear back from them! Western and Concordia are really good schools as well. Emily Carr and OCAD are very new grad programs, but both have some great faculty. NSCAD was a really great school in the 80's and 90's, but I think their remoteness has hurt it in over the past 10 years. The University of Manitoba in Winnipeg is a good up and coming program with some good young faculty. Winnipeg produces a weird amount of top artists (AA Bronson, Marcel Dzama, Daniel Barrow, Sarah Ann Johnson ... ) for its size, maybe Winnipeg is like a northern Portland?
Most Canadian schools offer full funding, or TA or research positions to cover the funding. The sense I get is that it's generally (not always the case) a bit more academic in the Canadian schools than in the US. I think if you want to end up in NY, going to school in the US, preferably close to NY, is the way to go. If you want to end up in Berlin or Rotterdam, going to school in Canada is likely a good option.
