American Reacts to Americans FAILING Basic Questions About Canada 

John Bartlet Brebner (1895-1957), a Canadian historian, famously said, "Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well-informed about the United States." It's always been this way. I blame the U.S. education system, not Americans.

I used to get offended by videos like this until I realized that Americans are just as clueless about their own country as they are about Canada. So really, it's nothing personal...

In the words of Canadian comedian, Simon Rackoff, “we don’t mind that Americans don’t know much about us - we’ve seen what happens to countries you take an interest in!”

I had a friend who worked at the US/Canada border (New York/Ontario). She had some funny stories to tell. One American couple arrived perplexed because they could not understand why it was so darn hot and no snow in July. They had brought snow gear, sweaters, ski gear. Apparently, they thought that the weather underwent a cosmic shift when you travel that 3km over the St. Lawrence River.

To all of my fellow Canadians HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! I am so proud to be a Canadian and am happy to have found this channel. Keep going Tyler.

An American friend of mine used to debate about Canada vs U.S. I told him one day that Americans barely understand what happens outside their county, let alone global politics. He scoffed at it until he went back to Missouri. He came back and apologized

Celine Dion is (for Canadian) know as well for one refusing an American award because she was called American (US citizen I should specify) instead of Canadian. I have to say that I was proud of this as she maintained her origin.

in 1983, I went to the US. People there asked me how long our Igloos lasted before melting. I went along with it, and told them I walked 20 miles in Snow Shoes, then traveled 200 miles by Dogsled, then got on a Snowmobile to get to a place where I was able to get a Car.... The 1st Trip across the Border was also the Last

Majority of Americans barely know their own country's history. How can we expect them to know Canada's?

About 20 years ago I was talking to an American lady who asked me where I was from, so I told her I was from Canada. She said oh yeah she'd heard of that place, it is over there beside China someplace. I said no, it is on the other side of the US's northern border, and then she totally lost it, started yelling about how there is nothing there and that I wasn't fooling her any.

You're totally right - the national sport used to be Lacrosse. Now it's Hockey for winter & Lacrosse for Summer. They actually passed a bill in 1994. We don't have a national dish, but Poutine has become the most famous, I think because it's mentioned so much on American TV. Other dishes that are well known are Butter Tarts, Nanaimo Bars, and Beavertails.

In Canadian High-schools - during my high-school years - "Social Studies" was split into History and Geography. And we studied the History and Geography of the ENTIRE WORLD - starting with the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc., etc., etc. This included not only their Geography, Agriculture, Art, History, etc. - but also their mythology. We were THOROUGH. In Grades 11 & 12 - History and Geography were two separate classes - and we concentrated on the History & Geography of the Americas (South, Central, North) - from the time of "discovery" 450 yrs ago up to the middle of the Cold War - which was still going on when I graduated. So we LEARNED - as much about the US as we did about Canada. At one time - the 49th parallel was the world's longest undefended International Border (Bush put an end to that), and we didn't need passports to pass freely back & forth across that Border. To this day - I can recall most of what I learned about the US Constitution. I know stuff about it that most US'ers don't know - including the Federalist Papers that set out the supporting arguments for each of the Amendments. It astonishes me how many US'ers are completely unaware of this aspect of THEIR Constitution they purport to revere and venerate. And yes - Canada has a Constitution - as do almost ALL of the world's 195 countries - MOST of which are CENTURIES older than the US Constitution. The state of the US Education system IS your responsibility. It's the responsibility of everyone who has ever gone to school, or has become a parent with children in school. In Canada - we have a NATIONAL standardised education system. Funds are allocated from General Revenue based on one factor alone - population. NOT (as in the US) on a county's income tax bracket - where the richest counties get the best teachers and up-to-date books, computers, etc. In Canada - Education is one of our two "Socialised" essential services (Health Care being the other) - so EVERY child/student has access to the same across-the-board education to the end of Grade 12. I haven't been to the US since the onset of COVID - when the Border was closed, and T-Rumpf intended to station US Troops along the Border. Trudeau let him know that that was not the best idea he'd ever had - and T-Rumpf backed down on that intention. But relations have been strained since then. So many US TV shows are staffed by Canadian writers - Silicon Valley is staffed by Canadian code hackers - Video game creators seem to be mostly Canadians - Mid-Wife-Trained Nurses in US teaching Hospitals are mostly Canadians - most of the students (and most - if not ALL the RA's) in Applied Maths & Physics at CalTech - are STILL mostly Canadians. I really hope that Biden has a 2nd term - and that Drl Jill Biden DOES something about laying the groundwork for fixing the US Education "system."

Tyler, you have earned the title of an honorary Canadian good sir.

Tyler, you are becoming more Canadian with every video. The fact that you know that Lacrosse is our summer sport and hockey is our winter sport shows just how far you've come. And just about a week ago we hit 40 million for our population.

Lacrosse is actually our national sport, it is a game played by my Indigenous people, before modern hockey, hockey was played on a field, today we know it as field hockey and also played by my Indigenous people before contact. Both games were uses to settle disputes between Indigenous nations. The disputes were solved by the winning team.

Canada's biggest and first industry 350 years ago was the beaver fur trade (Top hats in England were traditionally made with beaver pelts) The Hudson Bay company

Just asked my 14 year old grandson who the President of the US is? No hesitation - Biden. So yes, most Canadians know more about the US than the US citizens know about Canada. Thank you for doing these videos. I am blessed to live in a wonderful country.

Now Tyler, we Canadians were laughing at you too not too long ago!! Yes, you have certainly learned a lot since you started these videos, we're very proud of you! 🎉

As a Canadian imigrait from Pakistan and learning all the history of Canada, including history, its just so hard and embarrassing to see these Americans not knowing these questions. A women asked if Canadian is a language and I thought that too as a kid but in the third grade i discovered that English and French are the 2 languages spoken in Canada, which was surprising to me but i understood why i spoke English and took Frecnh classes. I know a lot of geography of the world (including my home country) and if I ask them a question about anything rather then America I know they'll just straight up struggle and be embarrassed. I'm not making fun or anything but I hope today they'll learn more geography so that even if I'm going to quiz them, they'll understand.

As a Canadian kid in the 80's, I had to learn all the states and capitals too some time in primary school.

Fun fact, Canada is larger than the US. It is the second largest country in the world second only to Russia in size.

We are so proud of you, Tyler. You were once one of them.

What often stuns me as a Canadian is how much I know about the USA. Even your Constitution and how it should work. I live slightly more than 1 hour's drive from the US Border. Our Capital, Ottawa, is that close to the US. Yes, during 9/11 we Canadians were as stunned as all of you. Yes we opened our borders immediately to all your flights. Yes we assisted to keep your citizens safe and comfortable because it's the right thing to do. No we do NOT hate you. We can make the difference between politics and good people. Yes we speak our english a bit differently. Some of us dont speak english at all, and that's ok. We dont have guns everywhere, but we DO have plenty. We just use them differently. We like similar products, media, arts, foods and freedoms to live in a safe world. Our military are always in contact. We share the control of NORAD equally. We dont always agree about politics or politicians, either ours or yours. We'll be there if you need us, because that's how we see the world. PS yes we are normally quite polite people. Never mistake that for weakness as many despots and terrorists have found over our history.

When you said “it’s lacrosse” I cheered haha. You’ve become so knowledgeable and you’re absolutely correct, lacrosse is our national sport.

Me before it started: How bad can it be? Lady: Is Canadian a language? Me: I was too kind Edit: I literally once saw a quiz that asked something about a state in Canada and it wasn’t a trick question…

Tyler, there are currently 630 Tim Horton's locations in the U.S. Also, you missed the fact that these interviews are being conducted in Buffalo, NY, which is located right on the Canada/U.S. border. That's why these people knew more about Canada than you might expect. They certainly knew more than a cab driver I once had in Atlanta: "Where you from?" me, "Canada". Cabby, "Canada...oh yeah, I hearda' that. That's up near Delaware, ain't it?"

Thanks for your enjoyable videos Tyler. I have enjoyed them tremendously. Please keep making them! As a kid in elementary school (in Canada): Grades 1 to 9, all children were taught about the USA: State Capitals, etc. I'm not surprised about the lack of knowledge about Canada. Here is one for you: Did you know that the USA lost a war between Canada & Great Britain in 1812? That;s when the British burned Washington, D.C & the Whitehouse.

When I was young and on a bus trip to New York with the Girl Guides , an American girl thought all Canadians lived in igloos and another girl thought Canada was a little island.

As a Canadian, I'm impressed that you knew about Lacross even existing. I think we learned how to play it in grade schools. Once.

The 2nd video was filmed in Buffalo NY which literally is on the border. Americans on border cities like Detroit, Seattle, Minneapolis and Buffalo will definitely have stronger knowledge about Canadian culture compared to other Americans. Tim Hortons actually has a large presence in upstate New York.

Hockey is Canadian's official winter national sport and lacrosse is Canada's summer national sport.

They have Tim Hortons in Buffalo, NY and other border towns and cities in the USA, so it's easy to see how he worked at one. And yes, the test was in Buffalo.

To be fair, Canadians are so inundated with American news, film, and TV that you can't help but learn a huge amount about the US just by osmosis.

The Beaver is important because of the fur trade in 17th to the mid-19th centuries

An American friend told me that "war" was the American method of teaching geography. Pretty funny but sad.

August 6th 2023! I am watching this again! 😊. I have not been in school for a while, but when I was, we had to learn about the USA! The number states, American economy, their government system; Everything that was known at the time! Since grade school, I learned about the American flag! The 50 stars for 50 states, the 13 stripes for the first 13 colonies, the Capital, Washington DC, (District of Columbia), the weather, how we two countries trade back and forth and our border’s length! Still, most Americans do not know or choose to know that we are up above them! The 2nd largest country on Earth!

A person in Buffalo once asked me where Ontario is and I told him to look up. It's about 60 minutes from Buffalo.

For the first few months living in British Columbia, I didn't even know Victoria was the capital of BC. I was convinced it was Vancouver. Until a Canadian friend asked me in amazement: "What do they teach you at your private school with this elite educational program from Switzerland? You live in Greater Victoria, you are visiting the city very often and you often pass Parliament there, but you have no idea what it's meant for? It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. And perhaps one of my most Canadian moments so far as I apologized very verbally and in a colorfully manner for my stupid ignorance. At least I knew that Vancouver Island is paradise, where even any mistakes and stuff can be of a divine nature.

Have to admit you have learned SOOOOOOO much about Canada, since your earlier videos, that I am very impressed!!!🎉❤

15:17 Funny story: my friend and his brother were going through the drive-through at some BC fast food joint and the girl on the speaker asked them about poutine, maybe something like, "Would you like some poutine with that?" and his brother who was driving was like, "Excuse me?! Did you just say putang??!" and she cracked up laughing and laughing. We'd never heard of it in Western Canada until it made its way West through fast-food joints in the 90s. Needless to say, she explained what it was and he was like, "Naw, that sounds disgusting," he'd rather have some putang. When they got up to the take-out window, all the staff inside were all laughing. 😂

The reason the group in the second video did so well is that Buffalo is directly across the river from Niagara. It's a major crossing point, in fact a lot of Canadians in that area have P.O. boxes in Buffalo for online shopping. And yes there are Tim Hortons in Buffalo

Tyler, you are humble, smart, funny and as a Canadian I respect you alot for doing all those awesome videos. Merci mon ami :)

I've said it before. Most Americans think the world ends at the borders with other countries.

I live near the border, and I've met quite a few Americans who live on the other side of the border when I've visited the USA who have NEVER been to Canada. I found it astounding. Also, they would drive further south to the next nearest big city to go shopping, to see concerts, go to restaurants, etc. when they could literally drive to the next nearest big city in Canada to the North in about an hour including the traffic and border crossing.

I'm Canadian, and many of the TV shows I watched growing up were American. Most movies in theatres are American. Canadians are exposed to a lot of information from the USA. Whereas Americans are not exposed to as much Canadian content. It's not simply that we learned about the US in school. Thanks for sharing your reactions, Tyler. I enjoy your channel. It makes me see Canadian culture through a different lens and it's fun. :)

Yep! Celine Dion is not only Canadian but she's from Quebec and she can speak very Québécois 😉

Bless you for taking an interest in Canada and teaching other Americans about us. 🇨🇦🇺🇸

I’m Canadian, one of my (also Canadian) friends is convinced that British people and Australians originally speak a different language and then learn English because “where do the accents come from if English isn’t a second language” she still fails to understand that Canadians (and literally everyone everywhere), too, have an accent. By the way she claims that they used to speak Eglandish if they are British and Australian if they are Australian. I genuinely don’t understand how she survives in school with knowledge (or lack of) like this.

As of June 16 Canada's population just passed the 40 million mark

Frankly, as a Canadian I would say that a large number of Americans don't know much about their own country from watching questions put to them on the street about that subject .

I was outside of Atlantic City. Stopped at a gas station to ask if I was on the right road to find the highway. A young chickie asked where I was going. I said Canada. She asked why. Told her I lived there. She was surprised that I spoke English. Huh ? She told me that's not what Canadians speak. I looked at her for a bit then asked her what she meant. She said 'its sounds different' so I said

Tylor you are so funny and a good sport. I remember studying the US in geography. One would think because we are your neighbours, Americans would be taught and know more about Canada. 🇨🇦

Hi Tyler! You should say I WAS a typical average American and not I am. You know more about Canada right now than many Canadians!

I remember a few years back we went for a trip into the US, stayed just outside of Chicago, and went out for breakfast the next morning. The waitress asked where we were from, we said Canada...wow she said, you speak really good english. A bit stunned, we asked what she thought we spoke, she replied french. I think we chuckled and then she vanished and we had a different waitress :)

Americans probably didn't know Avril Lavigne and Jim Carrey and Alanis Morissette are Canadian

As a Canadian, if someone asked me what our national sport was, I would have answered lacrosse.

I knew a whole lot of American geography and history from grades, 6,7 and 8 as a Canadian.. Plus, I studied up on it on my own! The American education system needs to be improved big time. I guess some of them think that it's all about them!

Even as a Norwegian I was initially taken aback a bit by how little you knew about Canada, but to be fair, Tyler, I have actually learned things I never knew about Canada through your videos. So keep it up :)

In 1994 the “National Sports of Canada Act” specified two official national sports. Ice Hockey is the winter national sport and Lacrosse is the summer national sport. Before then lacrosse was the only national sport.

Population just reached 40 million in 2023. The tiny in area province of Nova Scotia just reached 1 million. Since in 2023, there are 630 Tim Hortons in USA, maybe the participants answering the questions don’t think it’s Canadian.

Don’t feel bad Mr. Bucket……..I think most Americans generally have a positive view of Canada, it’s the educational system that doesn’t focus much attention on us up here. I really admire your desire to learn about my country and really enjoy your videos. 👍👍👍

Quebec actually has a desert called beavertails which is like a donut shaped like a beaver tail. Delicious

I am a Canadian and I have never eaten poutine, nor is it Canada's national.dish!

Part of the reason most Americans don't know Canada, is because, really, we are not obviously, an important country to the States, we are but it's not obvious.

HAPPY 😃 CANADA 🇨🇦 DAY TYLER! 🍁

The most famous people in Canada are Red Green and the Trailer Park Boys.

One thing Canadians take great pride in is humility and in this regard Tyler shows us Americans can too. Which has won many fans.

Great job on educating Americans Tyler. I grew up in England and now live in Canada. In England and Canada, we were always taught world history. This is sad

As a Canadian, born and raised in Toronto, i don't know if i would consider Poutine as the national dish. It's definitely iconic, but it's more prominent in Quebec

Tyler, please come to Canada and shoot a few episodes here. It’s in the cards!!🃏

Just a comment about Americans being familiar with Tim Hortons. Some time ago, Tim Hortons paired up with Wendys in an attempt to break into the American market. It was only in a few locatrions, mostly border states. Didn't work!! That is probably how you had that one guy saying he worked for Tim Hortons in the U.S.

I am a Canadian. Went on a trip to Mississippi. Told the girl in the shop that I went to work in a dogsled and she believed me!

The TV show Jeopardy had Canada as a category once and no one knew the answers to the questions. This must have been annoying to the host Alex Tribek who is Canadian although he didn't show it.

I did learn all the American States and their capital cities back in 1968.I could recite them years ago but no longer.In school we had 6th grade geography taught to our class by Mr.Reimer(originally from Minnesota).We also had to make a relief map of the United States from water,flour & salt.

The thing about canada is. The land mass is actually bigger then the states but canada has alot of water and wooded area that is unpopulated so because of those two situations the total population is alot smaller then the potential could actually be

When I went to school in geography , I am Canadian, i had to learn all the names of the States, their state capitals, all the infustries and where the metals were mined.

There are some Tim Horton’s in the US, but also for those who live along border, it is very quick and easy to cross over so they likely have visited Tim’s for that reason. I grew up on the border (Canada side), and when I was a kid, we regularly travelled to New York state for my brother’s hockey. And US hockey players regularly came up here to play our teams.

It's funny you should say that you blame the education system in the US. I have heard that Americans aren't taught anything about Canadian history in school. Here in Canada, at least in my experience, the history lessons are quite in depth. Not just concerning the US, but other countries as well.

Drake has a house in Toronto 😂 he had to get the city to approve his big ass bushes around his property

With all your new found knowledge of Canada you should do a series where you ask people around where you live Canadian trivia!

Lacrosse has been known as Canada's National Game since 1859 hockey Finally in April 1994, Bill C-212 was passed to recognize hockey as Canada's official winter game, and lacrosse as its summer game. This is probably so Americans know at least one fact about Canada LOL

There are way more than 3 bands from Canada. Bryan Adams, Glass Tiger, Shania Twain, Paul Brandt, Tom Macdonald, Madchild, DeadMouse and Unleash the Archers...just to name a tiny few.

I have a hard time watching these kind of videos (NOT YOURS, TYLER, THE ONE YOU ARE WATCHING)... The fact that, before I even graduated high school, I knew all 50 US states, their capitals, where the national capital was, and some basic American history simply because us Canadians are engulfed by American media and yet these people have SUCH a hard time even naming OUR LANGUAGE? Man, it just makes me want to pull my hair out!

Greatest Canadian Singer = Sarah McLachlan Hands down. She got a record deal at age 17, before leaving high school, after her first live performance.

"Is Canadian a language"... Back in 1988, Calgary, Alberta hosted the Winter Olympics. One of our male figure skaters was Kurt Browning (who went on to have a fantastic skating career, both amateur and professional). Browning said in an interview that someone from another country (not the U.S., I don't think; elite American athletes are usually well-traveled people) asked him to "say something in Canadian." So the Americans aren't the only people ignorant about the languages we speak here.

Looines and Toonies and Pennies - The Canadian currency system is way ahead of the USA. Do you know that Canada stopped using pennies 10 years ago? The smallest coin is now the nickel. Pay in cash and it gets rounded up or down. Debit and Credit is still down to the penny.

A ridiculous example of Americans knowledge of Canada is a incident that happened to a friend of mine who was attending University of Pennsylvania as a student. He was walking on campus when they were conducting a voter drive for an upcoming national election. They asked him if he was registered and he said no because he is Canadian. The girl told him “You can register because Canada is part of the U.S.!!! When he corrected her, she turned to her colleague and said “Isn’t Canada part of the U.S.”? Her colleague answered “I think so”. 😢

Sometimes Canadians get upset at Americans for knowing next to nothing about Canada. But you have to remember there are Americans who think New Mexico is a foreign country and not take it too personally.

"American celebrities have to worry about crowd control. Canadian celebrities have to wear name tags." Dave Broadfoot, Canadian Comedian 🤣🤣

While I was on my honeymoon in Florida, I was asked how I could live in a country like Canada, where it was cold and snowed all the time. Wow!!!

Buffalo NY is practically ON the Canadian border. Thousands of Canadians shop there every day.

Tyler, you may at one time not have known the capital of Canada, but you took an early interest to find out. And it is now admirable how you have gone above and beyond to learn so much more. Way to go, eh!

As an American, I rocked this poll. Of course, I’ve been to Canada several times, several of my closest friends are Canadians from every province except New Foundland, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and PEI. I don’t have any friends from the three territories sadly. I only got the beaver question more out of wishful hoping being an engineer professionally. You can find Tim Horton’s in some northern US states. I’ve been to one in Maine.

The fact that canadians know lots about america but not vice versa actually disappoints me And this is coming from a canadian

Tyler, I don't know if you read these comments, but if you want to know more about Canadian culture, I hope you do react to the Heritage Minutes.

Apparently, we hit 40 million earlier this year. :)

“Is Canadian a language?” Well in a way yes! Canadian English, and Canadian French or both languages and they are the official languages of Canada they just don’t add “Canadian” in front of it!

I'm from Montréal! love your videos! :)

Singers…..Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Shania Twain, Getty Lee, Celine Dion, Burton Cummings, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, K.D. Lang, Randy Bachman, Alanis Morissette…………

Another great video Tyler! There will be a big birthday party tomorrow in Ottawa🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 so happy Canada Day to you🇨🇦 the population of Ottawa just hit a million a couple of years ago & the population of Toronto is over 6 million so I think that has a lot to do with more people who know of Toronto.