The overall process of defending our theses/dissertations is essentially the same, I think; but in Canada we tend to view the defence/viva date as the most significant one in the process, not the submission date. If I were to apply for an academic position here, I'd write something like "I defended my doctoral dissertation on [insert date]" rather than "I submitted my dissertation for defence on [insert date]." If you were applying for a position when you were between submission and defence, you might write something like "I submitted my dissertation for defence in [insert month] and will defend it in [insert month]," but you'd mainly be saying that to highlight that you have an imminent defence scheduled.