Americans are trying to pass off as Canadians abroad, but they’re not fooling anyone

Susanna Shankar was traveling alone in Spain this summer when she was confronted by a fellow traveler who refused to believe she was Canadian.

Susanna was at the hotel when she started talking to an elderly man with a British accent. As so many travelers do, he asked him where he came from. But when she said she was from Vancouver, the conversation took an unexpected turn.

Immediately, the man looked at her suspiciously. He accused her of lying, to the horror of her daughter, who tried to convince him to stop the interrogation.

“He simply didn’t believe me when I said I came from Canada,” says Susanna. “So I said, ‘Do you want to see my passport? How do you want to do this?'”

Susanna, aged 37, is a US and Canadian citizen, and runs websites about . His father is Canadian, his mother is American. He grew up in Alaska and lived in the USA until he was 28, lived in Germany for six years and then moved to Vancouver, where he has lived for four years. For political reasons, Susanna says she identifies less as American and starts presenting herself as Canadian. But sometimes her West Coast accent gives her away.

“I think his doubt had a little to do with the fact that there were many Americans trying to pass off as Canadians”, he adds.

Susanna refers to a decades-old practice known as , in which some Americans pretend to be Canadian while traveling to avoid anti-American sentiment. Fans of “flag jacking” sew the maple leaf flag on their backpacks and lie about their nationality. It happened in the 60s and 70s during the unpopular Vietnam War, intensified again with George W. Bush’s Iraq War in the early 2000s, and resurfaced under the current Trump administration.

Some Canadians, angered by the trade war, President Trump’s 10% tariff increase on Canada and previous threats of annexation of the country, have criticized Americans who toy with the idea of ​​pretending to be Canadians abroad, posting online comments calling the practice cowardly, arrogant and a form of cultural appropriation.

Furthermore, one of the most common arguments against “flag jacking” is that it fools no one: many say that Americans are easily distinguishable from Canadians, no matter how many maple leaf flags they use.

But is it really so?

In addition to obvious differences such as the way of measuring temperature (Celsius or Fahrenheit), marked regional accents (French-Canadian or southern USA, for example) and answers to quick questions like “What is the capital of Canada?” (answer: Ottawa) and “How do you pronounce Toronto?” (Torontonians don’t pronounce the second ‘t’) – does the rest of the world really distinguish between Americans and Canadians?

Canadians are “more subtle”

Several European tour guides who work with Americans and Canadians responded with a resounding “yes.”

“Stereotypes exist for a reason,” says Denisa Podhrazska, originally from London, founder of , which has been organizing private tours for high-income tourists since 2014.

“We use them because many of them are true. And it’s not just with Americans, it’s with everyone. Each country has its little quirks, that’s how we recognize each other.”

And when it comes to Americans, one of the easiest ways to identify them abroad is that they hear each other before they see each other, he explains.

“You can always hear the Americans because they are loud. Very friendly, and loud.” “Canadians don’t stand out as much. In conversation, they are more subtle, they can’t be heard from two tables away.”

Many Canadians prefer to state directly where they come from. As the joke goes: how do you recognize a person from Canada? She says it herself.

“Canadians immediately identify themselves as Canadians”, emphasizes Parisian Bertrand d’Aleman, founder of . Other guides agree. They believe Canadians do this to avoid being confused with Americans.

There is little academic research into differences between American and Canadian tourists, explains Kim Dae-young, professor of hospitality management at the University of Missouri.

But his own research reveals how nationality, sense of entitlement and perceived social status influence the way a tourist interacts with a destination.

“The findings consistently show that nationality can significantly shape behavior abroad,” he says. “When someone visits a destination they perceive as more advanced than their country, they are less likely to behave incorrectly. The same people tend to behave worse when they visit a country they consider less developed.”

For his research, Kim asked Americans to imagine trips to France – perceived as more advanced – and Thailand – seen as less developed. The results showed that Americans were more likely to litter, vandalize or wear inappropriate clothing in Thailand than in France.

Americans are more direct and vocal

Despite the dearth of scientific studies, travel professionals have many other observations about the differences between US and Canadian travelers.

Australian Leigh Barnes, president of the Americas at Intrepid Travel, says that Canadians tend to be adventurous and spontaneous, open to new activities and unexpected things, while Americans prefer structure and organization.

Similarly, Canadians are less likely to complain openly and keep discontent to themselves, while Americans are more likely to express when something doesn’t live up to expectations, adds Barnes.

“Americans are a little louder, ask more questions and are more direct. Canadians don’t verbalize discontent. And both forms have pros and cons.”

But the real differences emerge when the conversations delve deeper – subtle clues of attitudes and behaviors that reveal cultural divergences between the two countries.

In separate interviews, Podhrazska and d’Aleman agreed that Canadians tend to have a broader understanding of European history and current affairs, due to historical links to the continent as part of the Commonwealth and French-Canadian heritage.

Another telltale sign that a tourist is American? “US travelers are obsessed with ‘queue jumping,’” explains Podhrazska. It’s one of the most common requests among its wealthier American customers, who are willing to pay more to get ahead on attractions.

“I blame Disney for this,” he jokes, referring to the theme park’s fast-track passes (currently called Lightning Lane), which create a stratified system between visitors. But, in London, the concept practically does not exist, forcing it to manage expectations.

“Everyone has to go through security and do what everyone else does. There is no special treatment.”

“Here they are in their territory”

British Charley Harrison, founder of Totally Tailored Tours in London, also warns American tourists against the tendency to assume that American culture is the universal reference. Among their US customers, this has already manifested itself in the assumption that they can pay abroad with US dollars or in the insistence that the British have an accent – and that they Americans do not.

“For me, the subtext is: I speak normally, and everyone else doesn’t.”

Cindy Jaso, 64, an American and Canadian citizen who moved from New Brunswick to Texas when she was 21, didn’t hesitate to berate an American friend while on vacation in Europe this summer, when the friend complained about the narrow, cobbled streets, the lack of air conditioning and the fact that some locals don’t speak English well.

“You expect immigrants in the US to speak English. Here you are on their territory”, he recalls saying.

Canadian content creator and author Stewart Reynolds, known online as Brittlestar, has a curious theory about Canadian behavior linked to the weather. In his TikTok videos, he has already (and because he celebrates universal healthcare, maternity leave and poutine) made humorous tutorials like “How to be Canadian: ” (“Sorry you bumped into me.” “Sorry I bumped into you.” “Sorry, I’m not excused after all.”)

Reynolds presents a broader view of the differences between Canadian and American travelers, with a forewarning and then a meteorological analogy.

“Canada has idiots too. We have a lot of idiots,” he says. “But in general, I think Canadians try to think more about the group, whereas Americans think a lot about the individual.”

This might mean going to the back of the line instead of looking for a shortcut, and waiting your turn. Because Canadians value order, he says.

And although it seems like a simple explanation, Reynolds reduces this cultural trait to one factor: climate.

“I think the collectivist attitude comes down to the environment,” says Reynolds, who lives in Stratford, in southwestern Ontario. “Canadian winters can sometimes be a matter of life and death, and everyone needs to push someone’s car out of a snowdrift. Everyone needs to shovel someone else’s driveway.”

“A unique and authentic version of themselves”

For Susanna, a citizen of the USA and Canada, the differences between Canadians and Americans manifest themselves in the way they “take up space” in conversation or in public.

“In the US, we grow up to be confident, and we move through life with that confidence. So Americans tend to be bolder. And I think their most redeeming quality is that they can be a unique and authentic version of themselves… the culture supports being loud, unique and individualistic.”

Canadians, on the other hand, are more collectivist, able to mix and adapt to different cultural contexts, he adds, a mentality with which he identifies.

In addition to avoiding anti-American sentiment, “flag jacking” supporters say they lie because they believe they will be treated better as Canadians abroad.

But all tour operators interviewed guarantee that this idea is unfounded.

“It has more to do with the behavior you adopt than where you are from,” says Barnes, from Intrepid. “If you are respectful of local customs and culture, curious and courteous, you will have an incredible vacation.”