Canadian Kodak Ltd., which became Kodak Canada Inc. in 1979, manufactured photographic films, papers and equipment for over a century in Toronto, Ontario. The company formed the Canadian branch of the successful Eastman Kodak Company, and officially opened its doors in 1900 at 41 Colborne Street under the direction of John G. Palmer. The company expanded and moved to 588 King Street West in 1908, but already plans were underway for an expansive complex to the north of the city. In 1912, Canadian Kodak purchased 25 acres of farmland near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue to build a major manufacturing facility known as Kodak Heights. By 1925, there were over 900 employees working in seven buildings at Kodak Heights. Over the years, the company earned a reputation for having a cooperative and supportive relationship with its employees, adopting many of the successful practices in place at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. In 1940, an Employee's Building was constructed to accommodate the activities of the flourishing Recreation Club, the Department Mangers' Club, and the Kodak Heights Camera Club. During the 1990s, the rise of digital media began to have a serious impact on manufacturing programs at Kodak facilities around the world, causing the Eastman Kodak Company to reduce its production of traditional print photography by one third globally. The company chose to focus on digital products, which did not require the extensive facilities used in the production of traditional photographic materials. On December 9, 2004, Kodak Canada Ltd. informed its employees that manufacturing operations in traditional film products would cease entirely at Kodak Heights. The company's facility faced the same fate as many of its foreign counterparts in England, Australia and France, being completely abandoned and demolished shortly after closure in 2005. Kodak Canada still maintains a sales and support office in downtown Toronto, while the manufacture of traditional photographic chemistry has returned to Rochester.

Johnson gained employment with Kodak in 1948 as a sales and technical representative for the Atlantic provinces. Born in Calgary, but worked out of Truro, Nova Scotia. Before joining Kodak, he spent 10 years in the R.C.A.F. photographic division as an aerial photography instructor. (Source: Kodak Dealer News, Summer 1962)