AC students say patriotism is ‘skyrocketing’ in the wake of Trump’s threats

Algonquin College students see a rise in Canadian patriotism in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats.

A poll by the Angus Reid Institute in February showed a 10 per cent increase in Canadians who said they are very proud to be Canadian. This coincided with Trump’s remarks on tariffs and annexation.

Caleb Fomatatissong, who’s in the plumbing program at the college, believes Trump’s actions have given Canada a “common enemy.”

“I feel like I stand more with Canada, we’re more together, more united. I feel like what (Trump’s) doing is gonna in turn bring Canada together,” Fomatatissong said.

The Four Nations Face-Off, an international ice hockey tournament featuring players from the NHL, was held from Feb. 12 to Feb. 20. Canada beat the United States in the final. Dagan Mohamed, who is in the dental hygiene program, said she noticed an increase in national unity during the event.

“A lot of the people that I knew, they were very patriotic and really rooting for Canada, a lot more than usual,” Mohamed said.

Although she doesn’t follow hockey, Mohamed said she felt more patriotic during the tournament.

Chelsey Orchard, who’s in the paralegal program, is also feeling a rising pro-Canada sentiment.

“I would definitely say that the patriotism has really skyrocketed. So many of my circle are only buying Canadian, not even European, not American, just Canadian,” Orchard said.

However, Orchard says she has mixed feelings about Canada. She was born in Canada, but her family immigrated from Italy.

“I feel like there’s this façade of nice people, and there’s this façade of free healthcare, this beautiful utopia of opportunity. And then when you get here, like when my grandparents got here, the opportunity was kind of dried up, and he had to work in the mines,” Orchard said.

Alexis Kuper, also in the paralegal program, says that while she loves Canada, she’s also frustrated with the Canadian political system.

“I think, especially in Ontario, a lot of our disenfranchised people fall through the cracks through poor economic funding,” Kuper said.

In March 2024, over two million people visited food banks in Canada with over 700,000 of them being from Ontario, according to a 2024 HungerCount report by Food Banks Canada.

Fomatatissong, who’s been in Canada for about 10 years, thinks it’s easy to take Canada for granted.

“I feel like people that hate on Canada, people that were born here and haven’t really experienced anything outside of Canada, so they think it’s bad ’cause that’s all they’ve known. So they can’t really compare to anything else,” Fomatatissong said.

“But when you come from a worse-off country, Canada is one of the best countries in the world.”