I suggest you do your own research. Personally, I asked the same question a year ago. It was a Nikon D80 versus Canon 450D for me. The Nikonians were telling me to join them because (1) Canon cams have the dreaded Err99 (which happily hasn't happened to me yet) and (2) Nikon cameras don't need to be repaired so I shouldn't be worried about Columbia not having a service center here in Cebu. That's not true as two of my officemates who had Nikons had to ship their cameras to Manila for repairs. One of them took 2 months to repair.
Honestly, I would have bought a Nikon but I got turned off by Columbia's (SM) reply re repair - I had to pay shipping and handling to and from Manila.
I got Canon simply because it has a service center in Mabolo and they have extended warranty periods (not sure if Nikon has same post-sales guarantees too). I heard that Canon's service isn't that prompt either but at least I don't have to pay for S&H to Manila for major repairs.
And oh, I started with a point and shoot - Canon Powershot A630 before I invested in a DSLR. I hear good things about Canon's S90.