Here are some notes from my previous experience in dealing with Work Permits for Canada:
There are many foreign workers in the visual effects industry in Canada. It is known to be an in-demand field, especially for mid-to-senior level artists. We strive to have the artists graduating from Lost Boys hired into at least a mid-level job, making the Work Permit process easier for the company.
In Canada you will usually be issued a Work Visa for 1 year or less. You can renew the Work Visa in one-year increments without leaving Canada as long as you apply in advance. If you end up "in between jobs" you can apply for a Visitor Visa before your Work Visa runs out.
With a Work Permit, the point system is not used (that is for Immigration). It is up to the company to ensure that the employee fits the job qualifications as posted and that they tried to search for a Canadian worker. Most companies write the job description to closely match the worker they want to hire.
Of our five previous students working in Canada on Study Permits, three applied for the Information Technology worker category (
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/special-tech.asp), which meant they had previous work experience in a related field of at least two years, previous education and certain software requirements. The benefit to this category is that the company hiring does not have to apply for a Labour Market Opinion, a process which can take extra time and resources and they check the ratio of foreign workers vs. Canadians that are on staff - the limit is supposed to be about 10%. Any company with not too many foreign workers shouldn't have a problem with the regular Work Permit process.
A tip, before you leave home to study in either Canada or the US, make sure you get letters of reference showing the time you worked from your employers, then you won't need to search for them a year or two down the road when it comes time to apply for the Work Permit.
I should add that it can be useful to acquire a US Visitor Visa, if you need one from your country, before you arrive in Canada, in case you decide to go from Canada to the US.