Whereas U.S. president Donald Trump’s repeated feedback about making Canada his nation’s 51st state have raised the ire of many Canucks, information that People travelling overseas at the moment are posing as Canadians will little question additional fire up discord.
Whereas it has lengthy been the observe of Canadians travelling overseas to affix their nation’s flag on their backpack or different baggage, American media large CNN just lately reported that U.S. residents have, in current months, “revived a decades-old observe of masquerading as Canadians with a purpose to keep away from anti-American sentiment overseas below the Trump administration. They’re hiding behind the Maple Leaf, falsely figuring out themselves as Canadians and displaying the Canadian flag on their baggage in a phenomenon generally known as flag jacking.”
The Canadian flag has lengthy been positively acquired overseas, main many Canadians to show the Maple Leaf on their baggage whereas travelling.
And Canadians are understandably reacting to the pattern — none extra so, maybe, than Canadian cultural commentator Tod Maffin, who acknowledged in a brief video on social media: “For some cause, People suppose that we’re their backup passport. The world’s first dual-action ethical absolver. Simply apply gently and watch the disgrace disappear.”
The information comes at a time when Canadians are already shunning journey south of the border. In actual fact, a July report from Statistics Canada revealed that, for the primary time in 5 years, fewer Canadians have been travelling to the U.S. than People making the journey to Canada.
In line with the report: “In July 2025, the variety of Canadian-resident return journeys by vehicle from the US totalled 1.7 million, a steep decline (-36.9 per cent) from the identical month in 2024.”
The report additionally confirmed that in July 2025, the variety of returning Canadian-resident journeys by air from the US declined by 25.8 per cent to 383,700 from the identical month one 12 months earlier.
And Canadians aren’t the one ones shying away from journey to the U.S. In line with knowledge from the U.S. Nationwide Journey and Tourism Workplace, within the first seven months of the 12 months, the variety of abroad guests, excluding travellers from Canada and Mexico, declined by greater than three million, or 1.6 per cent, in comparison with the identical interval in 2024.
