It was a scene few had ever witnessed. As the opening words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” were sung by Elizabeth Irving in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena before a Tuesday night hockey game between the Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche, the crowd erupted in boos. Those boos continued throughout the song, and only abated when she began her rendition of “O Canada.”
On the same night, a similar scene played out as the NBA’s only Canadian franchise — the Toronto Raptors — hosted the New York Knicks.
It was a trend that began at NHL and NBA games on Sunday and has clearly stuck. The loudest reactions came on Sunday, a day after Donald Trump ordered his now-paused 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods, as well as 10 percent tariffs on energy imported from America’s northern neighbor.
They were accompanied by a big push to “buy Canadian” across the country. Lists of cereals, bread, alcohol and meat and fish that are certified Canadian (often denoted by a maple leaf on the label) were published in Canadian media and shared around X, Instagram and Reddit. Many Canadians announced they intended to boycott American-made products at the same time.
Tariffs were paused for a month by Trump after Canada and Mexico both imposed retaliatory tariffs — and Trudeau and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum both announced measures to reinforce their borders with the U.S. not long after the pause.
The pause hasn’t stemmed a surge of Canadian patriotism. And why should it? Immediately after Trump touted his apparently well-negotiated deal with Trudeau, tweeters were quick to point out that much of the border plan had already been announced in December 2024.
“Trump is a laughingstock thanks to Trudeau,” wrote one Redditor, sharing a meme of Trudeau on a phone call to Sheinbaum. “So I offered him what we’ve already been doing and he dropped the tariffs!” says the speech bubble above Trudeau. A laughing Sheinbaum replies: “Same!” The meme had 45,000 upvotes in 24 hours, making it the fourth-most shared post on r/AskCanada of all time.
The three more popular posts above it were also all about Trump: one a much-shared cartoon featuring a warmly-dressed, axe-carrying Canadian man yelling, “This is CANADA!” and kicking a surprised Trump back across the border (47,000 upvotes); the other two are posts accusing any Canadian of supporting Trump of being a “traitor” (53,000 and 83,000 upvotes respectively).
Meanwhile, the Canadian independent media company Made In Canada — previously only concerned with pop culture and sports news — was busy offering 25 percent discounts for Canadians to advertise with them and tweeting out pictures of hoodies emblazoned with the slogan “CANADA STRONG.”
Even Canada’s beleaguered prime minister seems to be seeing a modest uptick in support after his phone call with Trump. Following the proliferation of “Trump got played” reactions, Trudeau and the Liberal party started seeing some recovery in the polls, having been battered for months by negative approval ratings. A PM who seemed politically dead in the water, hated as much by his own voters as by the other side, appears to have managed to claw back some credibility after being gifted a golden opportunity to posture by Trump.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a back-and-forth over email with Rupa Supramanya, an Ottawa-based reporter, about why so many young Canadians had reacted surprisingly positively to the idea of becoming America’s “51st state.”
Supramanya mentioned something that stuck with me: “Americans have a positive sense of who they are centered around their culture and history,” whereas “many Canadians, especially on the left, identify themselves as non-American. In other words, Canadian identity is ‘we’re not American,’ which is a negative and fragile sense of who they are.”
It turns out that “we’re not American” may actually be enough. Sure, it’s fragile when you’re simply standing up for politeness and decency, even a better approach to health care. But when you’re defining yourself against a man who’s happy to crash the global economy for a soundbite and who just claimed he’s going to buy Gaza? “O Canada” starts sounding a heck of a lot more melodic.
There are some on the other side. An X account that calls itself Canadians For Annexation has been operating for the past month — but it only has 3,100 followers, and not all of them seem supportive. Meanwhile, other accounts are sharing pictures of “Canadian Traitor” medals to hand out to those who would join America.
“Would you fight the US if it came to it?” one Reddit poster asked two weeks ago, alongside an image of the American Revolutionary War. The top-voted comment was an Emiliano Zapata quote, written in both English and French: “I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.”
The most upvoted reply? “Great quote. I’m a Texan, and consider myself a U.S. patriot in my own way, but I hope, if it comes down to having to fight a fascist takeover, you and I can be allies.”
