Canton Everett Delaware III Canton Everett Delaware III was an ex - FBI agent who accompanied the Eleventh Doctor during the latter ' s visit to the United States of America in 1969 , having been kicked out of the Bureau for wanting to marry an African - American man . He served as the Eleventh Doctor ' s fourth companion ( as he already had Rory , River and Amy ) during his investigation of the Silence . He quickly came to respect the Doctor during their quest to defeat the Silence , hoping to have another adventure with him in the future . Biography . The Silence . Canton was an FBI agent who was forced to quit the Bureau because they did not condone his homosexual relationship with a black male . Six weeks after his resignation , on 8 April 1969 , he met with President Nixon at the White House to investigate mysterious telephone calls Nixon was receiving . In the Oval Office , Canton met the Eleventh Doctor and allowed him to help in the investigation . Canton travelled with the Doctor to Florida in search of the little girl who had been calling . Rory Williams explained to Canton how the TARDIS travelled through both time and space and was bigger on the inside . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) The Silence arranged for the companions to be declared fugitives and the Doctor to be imprisoned in Area 51 . Canton pretended to lead the hunt for Amy , Rory and River to prevent the Silence from realising their presence was known . After the Doctor was sealed in a dwarf star alloy prison that prevented anything getting out , he and Canton revived the captured Amy and Rory , recovered River Song and departed in the TARDIS — which had been hidden in its invisible form behind the Doctor as the prison was constructed — to track down the little girl . After Canton shot one of the Silence , he used Amy ' s video phone to record the Silent saying , " You should kill us all on sight . " The Doctor arranged for that message to be broadcast during Neil Armstrong ' s moon landing ; the Silence essentially ordered every human who ever saw the footage to murder them and forget that they had done so . As the Doctor departed , he suggested that Nixon should allow Canton to get married , but the discovery that Canton intended to marry a black man prompted Nixon to reconsider the idea . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) Meeting again . In 2011 , Canton was invited by a future version of the Doctor to the place where the Doctor would be shot and killed . There he met River , Amy and Rory again , told them that it was definitely the Doctor who was shot and that he was really dead . He left them gasoline to burn the Doctor ' s corpse ; the Doctor had secretly used a " Teselecta " duplicate to fake his own death , and the gasoline barely singed it . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " , " The Wedding of River Song " ) Canton also told them that he wouldn ' t see them again , but they would see him . This was before they were going to meet his younger self later in their personal timelines . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) Personality . As a former member of the FBI , Canton was used to using violence in order to accomplish a goal , shooting a Silent twice at point blank range . Although he got a doctor to tend to the Silent ' s wounds later , this was only so that he could lull it into a false sense of security until it said that humans should kill its species on sight . Canton also casually stated that if the Doctor did not do a satisfactory job of solving the mystery of Melody Pond he would shoot him , although this was before he became the Doctor ' s friend . He was a skilled actor , being able to fool the Silence into thinking that he was hunting the Doctor ' s companions when in reality it was all part of the Doctor ' s plans to overthrow the Silence . The fact that the Silence were most likely watching him most of the time , due to their ability to remain virtually undetected , was further evidence of Canton ' s impressive acting abilities . Canton often displayed a dry wit , such as when he said , " Welcome to America " , after shooting one of the Silence . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) He was usually very calm and level - headed , showing no signs of panic when confronted with the Silence , and although he seemed impressed by the TARDIS , he did not get overexcited about it , merely commenting that he liked the Doctor ' s " wheels " . Canton was able to quickly adapt to unfamiliar situations , presumably because of his FBI training , and he was able to accept the existence of aliens and time travel very easily . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " ) Canton was same - sex attracted , and wanted to marry a black man . ( TV : " Day of the Moon " ) He was also a loyal friend . The Doctor trusted him enough to not only invite him to his funeral at Lake Silencio , but also to communicate to his companions the reality of his death . ( TV : " The Impossible Astronaut " )