As a Cdn, don't anything specific to add to this thread, our cards - cc and debit are all PIN [NIP en francais!]
However 2 general comments
To the person who took a new cc on a trip and had a problem, I always try out a newly issued cc to check if it works, once it did not! and I got a replacement
And, after I got my 1st PIN card, later that year phoned the bank to let them know I was travelling out of country [note you no longer have to do that for Cdn Visa and AmX] and the bank person told me if my PIN was more than 4 digits to change it to 4 digits.

J&B