One of these characters was "Nelvana of the Northern Lights", who took her name (and little else) from an Inuit goddess. The mythology in ALPHA FLIGHT was derived almost exclusively from this. If you read between the lines, in fact, you will discover that Nelvana (the Canadian Whites character) was Snowbird's mother.



(Bit of trivia: Nelvana and her cohorts were published by Anglo-American, one of the chief competitors of the Bell Syndicate -- the latter being the same group to whom Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had taken Superman when the American market expressed no interest. The Bell Syndicate also rejected the character, stating it had "no lasting appeal".)

That's a pretty neat connection. 

From the "Brilliant Minds Think Alike" department, I recall Kirby making a cross-company connection by writing between the lines that Captain Victory was Orion's son.

Almost happened. When I was doing JK4W, I had the Norse gods appear. I gave brief thought to having the Russian equivalents in their stead, but then I decided the impact of having THOR step into the midst of the New Gods was too good to miss!

"I wonder if Nelvana animation studios took their name from the comic, or the mythological Nelvana?"

I have it from an employee of Nelvana that it's from the comic.  They may even have the rights to it, but I know they have used the comic in some of their promotional materials.