Canadians made an impressive showing at Sunday's 75th Academy Awards garnering three Oscars in addition to a slew of wins for films with Canadian links.

Early in the gala St. Thomas, Ontario-born set decorator Gordon Sim became the first Canadian to claim Oscar glory. He joined art director John Myhre in claiming the prize for art direction on the hit Chicago.

Thrilled with his Oscar win, Sim was keen to share the glory with his partner, "I just wanna thank John Myhre so much. He's a wonderful, creative man to work with."

Though he's worked on more than a dozen feature films, this was Sim's first Academy nomination and win.

Then, 39-year-old Brantford, Ontario, native Eric Armstrong won in the best animated short category for his film The ChubbChubbs. Accepting the statue Armstrong was astonished by his triumph, "Wow, I may try real hard not to pass out here."

Later Toronto-based sound engineer David Lee took to the podium, claiming the Oscar for best sound direction on Chicago.  Lee had a message for the people he'd left in Canada, "Peggy I'd like to say I love you honey I wish you were here with me, but I know you're right there in Toronto at Una Mas having a wonderful time."

Canadians were even connected to the night's liveliest moment, the awarding of the Oscar for best documentary. Accepting the award for best documentary Bowling for Columbine's Michael Moore thanked his Canadian producer Alliance Atlantis' Michael Donovan before launching into an antiwar tirade:

"We are against this war Mr. Bush! Shame on you Mr. Bush. Shame on you! Any time you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against your time is up!!"

Canadians also claimed a low profile role in the night's highest profile Oscar win. Veteran Montreal producer Don Carmody was one of eight to claim the prize for best picture Chicago. The celebrated movie musical has come under fire for the producers' decision to film in Canada -- taking advantage of the favourable exchange rate, labour and production costs. With its win Sunday night, Chicago became the first so-called "runaway" production to claim the Academy's most prestigious prize.

Although Canadians represented a modest contingent at the Oscars gala, they managed to snag many of the prizes they were nominated for. One exception was fan favourite My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In the running for best orginal screenplay, star and screenwriter Nia Vardalos had to leave the Oscars without a statue of her own.

Earlier in the month, Canadian technology company Alias/Wavefront was given a scientific and technical achievement Academy Award for its development of the software program Maya. The software has become a standard used by digital special effects departments throughout the film industry.

Accepting the award Alias/Wavefront president Doug Walker said: "It is with great pride that we accept this Oscar on behalf of the many talented individuals at Alias/Wavefront past and present. We're honoured, we're humbled and we're absolutely pumped!"

Even though the special ceremony wasn't broadcast to a worldwide audience, the Canadian company was indeed given a bona fide Oscar statuette at the black-tie gala.