“I Sometimes Have To Rein In My Loud Americanness”: 55 Things American Expats Notice In Canada

In recent years, more and more Americans have moved to live in Canada (or have at least been talking about it, especially on social media). In 2021, about 256,000 American-born people were permanent residents of Canada. Interestingly, American women are particularly keen on the idea. If given the opportunity, 40% of women in the U.S. aged 15 to 44 would leave to live there permanently.

Sure, the U.S. and Canada share a continent, but they’re different countries at the end of the day. Americans might think that the only differences are the pronunciation of a few words and universal healthcare. However, those who have actually taken the plunge know that there’s more to the story. So, when one person online started a discussion by asking, “Americans in Canada, do you feel ‘foreign’?” a few more differences came to light.

#1

I’m an American who moved to Canada 7 years ago (Ontario). It’s mostly subtle, especially for tourists, but there are some pretty significant cultural differences. For example, in work cultural people tend to more reserved and I sometimes have to rein in my loud Americanness. I think people tend to be more reserved about politics too (less bumper stickers).

Some other things to consider- the use of the metric system, Canadian spelling, French speaking (understanding even a little), learning Canadian history, how the government works, Terry Fox etc. until I got to the point where I could do these all naturally I felt foreign. And I definitely didn’t want to go around advertising my Americanness.

I love being Canadian now, and I hope you are able to stay!

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#2

Work and education culture in Canada is more British or French than American. So surface level visitors won’t see the cultural differences but once you live in Canada it’s a completely different story.

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#3

I came here three decades ago from the U.S. and at first you’re going to feel how similar it is but, after all this time? No, they are not. Their base belief system is not the same as Americans have at all. I’m Canadian now and ONLY Canadian as I realized this country aligns more closely with my own beliefs despite the last ten years of American pushing their attitudes up here politically. Canadians in some ways are similar to Americans but, on a very visceral level Canadians are not shadow Americans at all.

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#4

It feels foreign to me, but I am from Texas, and parts of the US feel foreign. Boston felt really foreign .. so much more civilized. Montreal feels like Europe. Vancouver felt like Seattle or Portland didn’t even notice a difference really. But honestly even with the language difference in Mexico feels less foreign to me than a lot of America, not too crazy since this literally used to be Mexico. But the US isn’t exactly 50 different countries but it’s like 13 different ones. PNW, The Midwestern lake states, the midwestern flat dry states, California, Texas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska, New England, Colorado, New Mexico/Arizona desert area, Florida/alabama/Georgia coastal area, and the Deep South everything else in the south. Probably missing something lol. But I have been to every continental state except Minnesota Wisconsin and North Dakota and this is my impression of the US, you can feel foreign without leaving the borders of the US, and depending on where you’re from and where you’re at Canada might feel like home. I will say that one big difference is people self segregate less in Canada. I saw way more integrated friend group and communities in Canada even in Alberta than anywhere I have been in the US. That is the most foreign thing about Canada.

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#5

Canadians pay off their mortgages. We like to do that. We aren’t incentivized to stay in debt to reduce our taxes. We don’t go broke because we developed a medical issue. We show ID to vote, and hand count the ballots. We take our time off, and we get more of it. We can send money to someone from our bank via email or a phone number (it’s called interac and way better than any of the [bad] apps Americans use). No one is expected to work for ridiculously low wages (our minimum wage is higher). Moms don’t have to go to back to work two weeks after delivery and their partners get paid time off as well.

That’s just scratching the surface of the differences, which most visitors wouldn’t notice. I no longer feel American and when I go back to my birth country, I don’t understand how or why people think it is so great there.

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#6

Another major difference in addition to all of these points is that Canada is a secular country with little religious influence. The US had a very strong culture of extreme Christian beliefs that makes many Canadians very uncomfortable.

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#7

I do feel a bit… *different*. It’s hard to explain, and I don’t know if I come off as American. I probably do in certain circumstances. Hard to fully shake certain expectations and behaviors.

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#8

I did an exchange semester in Canada last year. It felt like North America, but I definitely knew I was not in the US. On the surface it looks similar – Vancouver is a stand in for many American cities like Seattle or San Francisco. But it was at its core a different, better country and I felt it every day that I was not in the US. For example, the architectural styles of houses are unique in Vancouver and have notable differences from what I’m used to in California. Or when I wanted to buy alcohol, I would walk to the BC Liquor store and just pick out what I wanted, show my two pieces of ID, pay, and walk home. I was 20 at the time so it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders not having to first scan to make sure no police were around, not having to switch out cards in my wallet, and not worrying about whether they’d notice that I was handing them an ID that was not issued by a government agency. Conversely, alcohol not being sold in the supermarket was an interesting difference, but one that I supported.

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#9

As a Canadian I’d say the differences are so minor they’re not even worth talking about. People from BC are more similar to their neighbours in Washington and Oregon than they are the rest of Canada. Southern Ontario is more like parts of the urban/suburban midwest than it is like Atlantic Canada. Quebec is more its own thing of course.

Even the grocery stores and the way we buy milk varies as much from coast-to-coast as it does crossing the border.

Someone from Texas or the South is going to be noticeably “different”, but the same thing could be said of them in Seattle or Vermont. If you’re from anywhere north of Maryland, unless you have a strong accent most people won’t be able to tell you’re American.

The only thing you need to be careful of… NEVER say any of this to the average Canadian. For some reason our entire identity is wrapped up in being *superior* to Americans. Any mention of a comparison and 99% of the time all you’ll here is a list of “America=bad” items… but these things say very little about people as individuals and its not hard to find a Liberal American and a Conservative Canadian and poof goes the entire narrative about how Canadians as a people are so fundamentally different.

The real differences are that on average we’re a little more reserved, a lot more conformist, and a bit more emphasis on politeness (not to be confused for friendliness or warmth). People are also much less likely to move around, and generally stay in the same province for life.

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#10

Sometimes I feel foreign, but usually due to differences in cultural upbringings (I don’t know wth Teletoon is), weather preferences (I actually like snow coming from California), how words are spelled, and work ethic. I would say American work ethic is not healthy now that I have worked up here. Also, our humor and words can be very hurtful even if not intentional.

My accent is identical to BC accent, so people catch it when I say things like restroom, crayons(crowns), badminton, garbage disposal(not garburator), soda(instead of pop), and other terms not used here. When I write reports, I spell Center instead of Centre.

People don’t really care though. I have learned more about Canadian politics, history, and finance than many locals I have spoken with on these subjects.

I will naturalize next year and I look forward to it.

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#11

I moved from the US to Canada as a kid and am Canadian. Canadians are less loud/boisterous, there is a stronger sense of collectivism and pride in being well mannered, obviously some terms and products etc. differ. Childhood education is also different as well; property taxes don’t fund individual districts; instead, there’s a provincial allocation so the quality tends to be more even? Catholic education is publicly funded in some provinces. Demographics wise, there are far more Asian people (East Asian, South Asian, SEA) and fewer people of Black and Hispanic descent. I will also say that IME Canadians tend to be a bit more outdoorsy. Those are just some immediate, superficial differences. But I also think the more you learn about the history of the two countries, the more apparent the differences are. Obviously the rejection of the monarchy is a big deal in the U.S., whereas that never happened in Canada. The US’s motto is « life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness » whilst Canada’s is « peace, order, and good government ». Canada views the world a bit differently than the U.S. does, as a middle power.

I think moving to Canada from the U.S. is certainly far less disconcerting than moving to another country but I also think that as one truly adapts, the more differences you will pick up on.

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#12

After 2 days on Campobello and visiting mainland NB, I realized on the drive home how Americans are so very rude to staff (demanding without please or thank you, repeatedly asking when their food is ready etc) it’s a stark contrast.

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#13

Yes and no. I moved here at the beginning of last year from the states, and the good definitely outweighs the bad. The people are friendlier, as long as youre not a loud, rude jerk. The food is delicious (though i do miss a couple of my staple places from the states). My husband and I are an lgbt couple and we can walk down the street without worrying about some idiot MAGA bigot yelling at us or even worse, attacking us. I definitely feel like the minority where i am, as I am a latina/native american woman and the majority in this area seem to be indians and white canadians – although even the white canadians seem like the minority now lol. In some ways, it has felt like moving to a different state, but there are definitely subtle differences that I dont know how to explain. Nothing bad, in fact its good! Different in a positive way. I dont feel as stressed, for sure. I just still struggle to get rid of the american mentality of not having to catalog where the exits are, and i still do feel nervous walking down the street with my husband on occasion, because in the back of my mind i worry about someone having some negative stuff to say. People will help you out here, definitely a lot more than in the US.

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#14

A friend of mine immigrated to Canada from Texas.

They went back to visit after a year or so, and his elementary aged son was nervous and asked to leave a store because he didn’t like all the guns that people were open carrying.

It’s just not a thing in Canada. We have lots of guns. We’re just not carrying them around in public as though that’s normal.

You might find other aspects weird.

Oh, you’re sick – what did the doctor say? Because it’s normal to go to a walk in clinic or urgent care if you’re really feeling poorly.

Or the middle of a Canadian door opening standoff.

Or the crazy amount of advertising in the States.

The cultural differences are deep rooted – you might not notice until you go back to the States and have reverse culture shock.

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#15

I think superficially, no! Most people don’t realize I’m not Canadian at first meeting, and there are a lot of commonalities. I think a lot of American tourists only see the superficial things when they visit and might assume the countries are more similar than they actually are. Being here longer, you start to see some deeper differences – mostly to do with history, political culture, language, demographic dynamics, etc. It is hard to always describe exactly how it is different day-to-day, but I definitely feel like an immigrant. I love Canada, hope more Americans spend some time getting to know it!

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#16

I live in Montréal and my home (Québec) feels very much like a different country and culture. It doesn’t feel « foreign » to me though, just because I’ve lived here so long and speak the language, so it is very much my culture now, and I don’t really feel truly at home in my region of origin in the US any longer.

When I’m in English Canada, however, quite honestly it just feels like I’m in a different region of the US. It feels just as different to me as California feels from Minnesota. That is to say, different but not at all foreign. Canadians will crucify me for saying so, though. It is definitely a different country, don’t get me wrong, but culturally (I.e. popular culture-wise), it really doesn’t feel like it. The two countries (in the regions that primarily speak English, at least) are quite integrated on the level of popular culture. On other planes (politically, demographically, developmentally, historically etc) it is not.

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#17

I’ve lived in both countries and in multiple states and provinces(dual citizen/family have lived on both sides for generations). What I’ve found is there are more similarities between western states and western Canada whereas Central and eastern Canada is more like the NE/New England states. I’ve found more similarities between BC/Alberta and the west coast than between Alberta and Ontario. The west is more entrepreneurial/risk taking. Most people are from somewhere else and there’s less sense of tradition and “we don’t do it that way” attitude. There is a pioneering spirit that you see out west in both countries.

There are, however, some real differences in attitude between the two countries, but these are more things you’d see over time and aren’t instantly apparent. Canadians are more quietly patriotic than Americans (although right now, this is different as threats have brought out Canadian patriotism in a big way). There isn’t the extreme exceptionalism that you get in the States (America is the best country, bla bla bla). Also Canadians have a more deprecating sense of humor. There are other things, of course, due to history, culture, etc – but not enough to make life miserable for an American moving to Canada.

I love a lot about each country, and find wonderful, warm people on both sides of the border. There are also [jerks] on both sides. And don’t get me started on Danielle Smith and the Maple Magas!

Enjoy Canada and soon you will be drinkin’ Timmies, wearin’ touques and sayin’ eh like a true Canuck.

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#18

Can I just clarify that in many respects, we are as *similar* as two nations can be from a cultural perspective *on the surface.* But scratch the surface and we are not close at all.

The majority of Canadians do not share American values. We are inclined as a people more toward the collective, even when we grouse about it, whereas the Americans are all about the individual. Start with guns and health care and work onward. We are very different people, it is an important distinction, and has become much more clear and I would argue valued in this country in the last year.

You are welcome here and will be welcomed here, we’re a pretty friendly lot. But we’re not a parking lot, either. This isn’t just a place for Americans to hide while your country gets [itself] together. If it does. And we aren’t USA lite, especially these days.

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#19

I met a girl in Montreal that I’m currently dating and I’m currently going back and forth from nyc to Montreal. It’s not so much culture shock for me it’s more feeling embarrassed that I don’t speak French lol. I hesitate before going to a restaurant. I do think people in Montreal are less stress than in the states or at least it seems to me. When I’m there, I feel real at ease. I’m considering moving.

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#20

I’m from Chicago and Toronto is much more familiar to me than New Orleans.

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#21

The only region in the US that reminds me of Canada is New England – not like the attitude, but this collective want to see us all do better. The biggest thing is I feel less individualistic here (I live in Quebec). And while yeah the French part of it is obvious, I also genuinely care about my neighbors in a way I don’t feel when I’m back in the US.

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#22

I lived in Montreal for a while and it felt foreign. When I go to Toronto it doesn’t feel foreign.

In the USA where I am, everything is in English only. Oddly enough product packaging for a lot of things in the US is in English and French, but not English and Spanish. Canada is more officially bilingual than the US. The USA is mostly an English speaking country.

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#23

Americans and Canadians are not close culturally. Neither from a social or values perspective. Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness vs. peace, order, and good government is about as different as can be.

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#24

I feel like culturally we’re becoming harder to tell apart from the US. When I was younger there were way more differences. With the internet, streaming services, and the US’s cultural export dominance, those lines have blurred more and more. Add in how much of our media is owned by American companies, and it feels like a slow annexation by culture over time.

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#25

I lived in both Ontario and Alberta for ten years each. Returned to the US for multiple reasons. But I always felt like living in Canada was like watching black and white tv as opposed to the newest 4k tv. Life just felt duller. Shorter shopping hours. Many things were harder. Shipping was so slow. Other than hockey, little sense of a national identity. People I met were strangely concerned with where they went to high school. You could be friends but inner circle reserved for family and high school friends only. YMMV. Just my experience.

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#26

I am new to BC, Columbia. The area I am in is so diverse that I wouldn’t say I feel “foreign”. I was embraced in my work place very quickly and work with people from all over the world. So, it’s kind of a shared experience I have with people I am working with day to day that we are all originally from a different place, but have made this home. Which feels inclusive to me. I feel like I am around more likeminded here and a society that aligns better with my values. And love my “new normal”.

It’s hard for me to articulate, but I felt like it was very easy to transition here but I do have moments where my personality coming from US Southeast doesn’t always mesh with people but that was also the case when I lived in the PNW in the states.

I have moments here and there where I am in culture shock. But it wasn’t as extreme as I had anticipated. My quality of life improved significantly with the access to quality public transportation, less stressful work environment and access to nature. The day to day is just easier here, many standards and protocols in in my career field are almost identical, and it made the transition easy. It would be harder for me to go back home and reintegrate back into that setting after experiencing what I have here at this point in my life.

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#27

I visited Toronto last week and was blown away by the diversity. In a quick trip to the store down the street from the hotel I saw so many different nationalities and heard at least six different languages being spoken. Someone I chatted with on the Go train to the stadium said she thought she detected an American accent.

I love the diversity and that’s a selling point for me. But it made me realize more than just intellectually **that Canada is not America North. It is a completely different country with its own unique culture and society.** I can’t wait to immigrate after my master’s degree is done but I also couldn’t help but think about how I will in fact be just as much an immigrant as anyone else regardless of where they’re from.

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#28

I used to live in upstate NY near the border with Ontario. To me, Ontario felt like another northern state. Quebec did feel foreign, especially when I crossed a bridge into Hull and all of a sudden nobody could speak English. Also temper my response in that I grew up in the south, so NY kinda felt a little strange to me.

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#29

I did at first. 10 years in, I’m Canadian.

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#30

Driving to Alaska and back, I didn’t feel foreign. Felt like I was just driving to another state. I really REALLY like BC.

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#31

I’ve lived in Canada for 20 years. The only socially acceptable form of bigotry left in Canada is anti-Americanism.

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#32

Foreign might not be the right word. I don’t know how to describe it but the baseline personality of a Canadian is clearly different. This leads to slight perspective differences, instead of cultural differences. That is what makes me feel “foreign”.

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#33

I’ll offer an outsider’s perspective. As an European currently residing in WA state, we visit British Columbia a couple of times a year for skiing. Whenever we cross the border, I feel more at home in BC because it seems more European to me than the Pacific Northwest. The metric system, the quieter people, the more polite Canadians, and the British spelling are all things that make BC feel more familiar to me. Other than that, I couldn’t tell the PNW and BC apart because both have similar and beautiful nature and architecture. I don’t notice any difference in the accent either. I did notice a much bigger difference between BC and the Toronto area than between the PNW and BC.

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#34

Dual citizen here, with life long cross border travels, and yearly summer stays. Never once felt much of a difference.

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#35

From the northeast, tornoto felt pretty identical to nyc or chicago but vastly different than houston, or even SF.

Honestly, i dont think it makes sense to talk about america as one unit. houston, Phoenix, and Vegas more of a different country from boston than london or toronto.

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#36

Not an American, I’m a dual citizen with family in both countries. There are differences especially in our system of govt (Westminster Parliamentary), elections and history. The social differences are subtle but they do exist. For example, most Canadians consider it rude to ask acquaintances about religion as it’s considered a private matter in Canada. You can be friends with someone in Canada for many years and not know what place of worship they attend or if they are a believer. Presidents openly talk about God and their faith but Canadian Prime Ministers don’t because it’s not considered appropriate. Contrast former President Joe Biden and currently Prime Minister Mark Carney, both practicing Roman Catholics (or Justin Trudeau, also a Roman Catholic as have been the majority of our PMs both English and French speaking).

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#37

I migrated from the USA to Canada in 1973. I taught high school and my rural BC students were unsparing in their reeducation of all my remnant American assumptions and taken for granted stuff. I still learn things about Canadian cultures and histories every day of the week. Some silence, patience, humility and good listening skills go a long way …. leave the bombast behind.

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#38

American from the mid-Atlantic that moved to Vancouver for undergrad:

I’d say at first it feels vaguely familiar, but then you get continual reminders that sorta keep you “in check” and remind you that “yeah no, it’s a different place with different customs” and some things are either things you learn about (because you didn’t grow up there) or things you adapt to. I’d also echo what a lot of other respondents have said.

It spans cultural references, bureaucratic processes, ways of socializing, mundane day-to-day things, to even how you interpret things (the example I use is that my internal understanding of things like distance and temperature are a funky US-Canadian hybrid that’s even more of a fun hybrid than the “typical” Canadian understanding).

Best of luck to you OP on your masters degree and hopefully sticking around on that PGWP!

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#39

I did at first, but no longer do now, after living here for 30 years and making the differences my own. (Now I feel foreign when I’m in the US.).

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#40

I moved to Toronto from California in 2019. Became a citizen in 2023. I had a very easy transition as an immigrant, but there are a few things I’ve had to get used to.

I’ve never felt much like a foreigner here, but I’ve also jumped right in to participating in society as much as possible (volunteering, etc). I also grew up playing hockey and I do speak French. So it has been a very natural experience so far.

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#41

I lived in Montréal for a few years. I often felt like a foreigner, but only occasionally in an unpleasant way (usually related to my complete lack of French language proficiency.).

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#42

I’ve been in Canada for 26 years and don’t feel I had any real immigrant experience….and my coworkers who are mostly from the middle east and eastern Europe would agree. I mean, it’s different, but the same. I live 45 minutes from where I was born and lived for most of my life. I do miss Kroger.

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#43

Canadian who’s lived in America. Biggest difference I noticed in immigration was that Americans liked to highlight where you came from and that now you are American. In Canada, it just doesn’t come up as much. You came from somewhere but now you’re here. Nothing more needs to be said unless it’s germane to the conversation.

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#44

I think neighboring countries that share same language and descend from the same cultures are bound to be very similar and familiar. Like Austria and Germany, or Argentina and Uruguay, or Singapore and Malaysia, or Australia and New Zealand.

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#45

I’m Canadian and have lived internationally for many years. So my perspective is maybe a bit different. Generally speaking we are very similar – especially on the surface. General pop culture is shared as are most sports. I can’t meet up with any other nationality and expect to have as much in common. In fact, I may have more in common with someone from Michigan or Vermont than some right wing hick from Alberta or my own small town lol. In fact well before Trump and his repulsive rhetoric I used to joke with my family that it was like coming home to the 51st state..

Little did I know…..

We definitely had a special relationship.

All that to say, yeah we’re a different country and things might be a little different but hard to believe it would be that foreign especially vs almost any other place in the world. In fact, I’d argue you might see more variance in going from Vermont to Texas or Washington to Texas vs Vermont to Ontario or Washington state to BC.

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#46

I spent 3-4 years in Manitoba as a college student back in the 70s, mostly in Winnipeg. I rarely felt foreign, although there were often subtle things that reminded me I was not back in the US.

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#47

As someone from Midwestern rural America who has mainly interacted with rural Canadians, I can definitely say that there is a lot of commonality between us. You could put me in an Ice Shack in Michigan or Northern Ontario and I’d have a great time in either. But for someone from say North Carolina going to Toronto, you’re going to have a much different experience. No country is monolithic, every country has some sort of internal diversity. except maybe Iceland or something.

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#48

Yes, but i live in Quebec. Natives can never tell that im American and not just from Anglo Canada though. Its really only the language that feels foreign, as some who lived in New England before coming here which is similar in other aspects. If youre from a different region like especially the south or southwest it probably feels more foreign even in Anglo provinces. Similar to how I would probably find the territories to be very foreign compared to what im used to, but someone from say, Alaska, wouldnt.

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#49

I’m a dual US/Canadian citizen. Lived 25+ years in each country. First 25 in the US and the last 25 in Toronto. There was almost no real culture shock when I first moved here. I did live in WNY for 8 years before I moved so I was pretty familiar with Southern Ontario (I used to get CBC over the air in Buffalo and we had Tim Hortons there too!) so that helped. Honestly the only time these days when I feel a bit like a foreigner is when people here trash talk about the USA. This has always existed regardless of who was POTUS but obviously it is more pronounced now. It would be annoying as often they would just paint a broad general brush for all Americans. Otherwise (and I know Canadians won’t like hearing this) it is mostly the same here.

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#50

I’ve been to Canada once in 1999 (wanted return trip for a long time) and was surprised how different it felt despite lots of similarities. I think it’s like the USA but with British / Euro sensibilities.

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#51

At first Montreal did, but even after a week and a half it started feeling less foreign to me. I do still feel lost when I have to buy something because there’s a lot less brand recognition for me to rely on.

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#52

Back when I was in Canada nobody could tell I was American. Depending on the province the accent can be nearly identical to the region below. I promise you many people in Detroit sound like people who love 30 minutes north of the border.

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