Courteous Canadian

Jake: How'd the interview with the victim go?
Charles: It went okay. The guy was from Canada, said it was probably his fault for getting robbed and apologized for wasting my time.
Jake: [chuckles] Oh, Canada.

— Brooklyn Nine-Nine

An enduring stereotype about Canada is that its residents are goshdarn nice. They'll use overly polite speech, display good manners, accommodate you as much as they can, avoid conflict, and try their best not to offend you — and if they think they have they'll make up for it with a barrage of "sorrae aboot that"s. And if there's more than one Canadian in the room? Expect Overly Polite Pals.

Part of it is that next to Eagleland, land of the stereotypically loud, rude, and free, Canadians in media come off as much more subdued in comparison, to the point of Quirky Neighbor Country. There is also an enduring notion that quality of life is good in Canada, so its residents just have fewer things to be mad about. Another reason, some claim, is that old European sensibilities are more intact in Canada than in its southern neighbor. Plus, the extreme cold weather means that you won't want to freeze to death because you offended a prospective helper! Meanwhile, a handful of studies have claimed little to no discernable differences in the attitudes of surveyed Americans and Canadians.

Contrast its inverse Crass Canuck. Compare its across-the-border sister Minnesota Nice, for kindly Midwestern Americans, and other stereotypically nice tropes like Japanese Politeness and The Friendly Texan. See also other Canadian stereotypes: Canada Does Not Exist and Canadian Equals Hockey Fan.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Hetalia: Axis Powers: Canada is a shy but friendly and polite loner who lives in a cabin in the woods, eats pancakes with maple syrup and plays hockey. His main social contact is his polar bear Kumajiro, but when he talks to other people, he is a very friendly and humble guy. Maybe too humble, since many don't really acknowledge that he is real and he always disappears next to his much louder and prouder brother America.

Comic Books

• Lucky Luke: Variation in "Daltons in the Blizzard", where the Canadians aren't so much polite as far more respectful of the law than in the Far West: the single Mountie assigned to the area is able to break up a bar fight by telling the fighters to turn themselves in at the nearest outpost (three days away on foot), the bars are careful to close at the legally-prescribed time, etc.

Comic Strips

• The World of Lily Wong: Rudy tries to get guns from his white brother-in-law Stuart, citing that all Americans must have guns. When Stuart says he doesn't have any, Rudy laments that Stuart must actually be Canadian.

Films — Animated

• Sausage Party: A pack of Canadian beers dutifully all say "Sorry" as they pass.
• Turning Red:
  • With the film being set in Canada, everyone is like this to some extent but the school security guard is particularly nice time and again. The first time he encounters Ming, he disregards the fact that she kicks him in the shin and gently restrains her only after repeatedly failing to passively make her leave the vicinity of the classrooms. The second time, he disregards the fact that she nearly hits him with her car and apologizes for making her leave. The third time, he merely stands behind her with a disapproving look until she leaves.
  • A streetcar driver accommodates Mei by waiting over a minute for her to board before leaving.
  • Mei slows down to help one neighbour and exchanges pleasantries with another even when she's running late getting home.
  • Speech wise, there are 15 instances of people saying "please", 14 instances of people saying "sorry" (half of those in the climax alone), and 18 instances of people thanking someone for something (including thanking Cthulhu of all people).

Films — Live-Action

• Canadian Bacon: The bulk of the film is contrasting a satirical take on America with a satirical take on Canada. While America is full of easily manipulated, hair-triggered oafs, Canada is uniformly clean, friendly, and childishly innocent.
  Gus: Canadians are always thinking up a lot of ways to ruin our lives. The metric system, for the love of God! Celsius! Neil Young!
• Detention: Zigzagged with Gord, Riley's uber-Canadian debate partner and an all-around jerkass who makes Riley wish that the stereotype of "polite Canadians" were true. Turns out he's not actually Canadian, though — or even human, for that matter.
• The President's Analyst: When the titular individual goes on the lam, along with being stalked by the FBI, the CIA, and The Phone Company, he runs afoul of the Canadian intelligence service. They are very polite about abducting him and drugging him for classified info.

Literature

• Lampshaded in you could make a life when Dan thinks to himself that Marc is proof alone that the "polite Canadian" stereotype is bullshit as his Swedish friend Larsson is far politer than him.
• Downplayed in The Tim Tebow CFL Chronicles where Canadians run the gamut, but on average they're still far more polite than Americans. The bulk of the story is a single football game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Ottawa REDBLACKS, who play just as hard as any NFL team but are unfailingly friendly with each other whenever the game clock isn't running. And when the Argonauts' cheer squad ask the audience to be quiet, so their quarterback can strategize without distraction, the entire stadium goes silent.

Live-Action TV

• American Vandal: Ming Zhang is a Canadian Foreign Exchange Student at an American school. He's a Nice Guy who is Loved by All. When investigating a vandalism, Ming has no alibi, but he is Beneath Suspicion because no one can imagine Ming doing anything mean-spirited. A Mistaken Nationality Bait-and-Switch is done with him — his name, appearance, and status as a foreign exchange student imply he's Chinese (perhaps an Inscrutable Oriental), only for it to be revealed he's Chinese-Canadian from Toronto.
  Peter: A lot of people would agree that Ming is the nicest kid in school. In many ways, he's a sort of anti-Dylan. During the third-period food fight last December, Ming didn't throw a single thing. In fact, he actually helped clean up the mess afterwards. And two months ago, Randell Snyder caught Ming returning a $20 bill to the lost-and-found.
• Bones: The title character once insulted a man so hard his arm stopped working. He was Canadian and the entire episode he appeared in was filled with the Canadians-are-polite stereotype. When told he should get angry and yell at Bones, he said:
  Canuck: I couldn't possibly, I'm...
  Sweets: Afraid?
  Canuck: Canadian.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes several jokes about how polite (read: boring) Canada is compared to Brooklyn, such as when Boyle interviews a Canadian man who got mugged and ended up apologizing to Boyle for wasting his time.
  Jake: [chuckles] Oh, Canada. Truly Odie to America's Garfield.
• Due South: Constable Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a walking Canadian stereotype, and this is part of it. Naturally, the show makes him one half of an Odd Couple with the loud, hard-nosed Chicago detective Ray Vecchio. It's portrayed a bit more cynically than normal, specifically paired with a kind of stoicism that he uses to cover up his emotional problems.
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee: Subverted. During a segment on the upcoming Canadian 2018 general election, Sam and Alana politely ask other Canadians to vote, exclaiming that making demands will piss Canadians off. So, they politely ask Canadians to vote, then switch to a thick Canadian accent and threaten to unleash the hockey goon in Alana. Sam pleads with Alana to "hold yourself off eh!"
• How I Met Your Mother:
  • One episode has Barney learn that he is of Canadian descent from his long-lost father, which horrifies him to no end. The Stinger of the episode is an Imagine Spot where his Canadian side manifests as a Literal Split Personality dressed as a Mountie, and his American side (dressed as All-American Face Apollo Creed from Rocky) beats him up. The Canadian side spends the beatdown complimenting and apologizing to his attacker.
  • Part of Robin's backstory is that she was a teen pop star in Canada under the name Robin Sparkles, but then she suddenly went in a Darker and Edgier direction as the rebellious Robin Daggers, whose slogan was "consider questioning authority, please." Even that was considered far too confrontational and in-your-face by her fellow Canadians.
  • In "Little Minnesota", Marshall introduces Robin to a Canadian-themed bar called the "Hoser Hut". Robin decides to test whether the patrons are truly Canadian by deliberately bumping into a guy. Not only does he apologise to her, he gives her a free donut to make it up to her. Robin gleefully declares that it's "just like home!"
• Letterkenny: Played with. Letterkenny is portrayed as an average Canadian farming town where everybody greets each other with a polite "How're ya now?" "Good, 'n you?" "Not so bad," no matter the circumstances. However, everyone in town also loves a good violent scrap and are perfectly willing to throw fists if the moment calls for it. Best exemplified by Wayne, who is neatly dressed, polite, and stolid, yet is also the toughest badass in town who proves it by fighting all comers.
• Malcolm in the Middle: In one episode, the family discovers their granddad's second family who lives in Manitoba. Cue funny accents, a very prim-and-proper Canadian grandmother who keeps everything bottled up (as opposed to Malcolm's violent Ruritanian grandmother), and a family who are essentially them but better and happier.
• Mo (2022): The Palestinian-American Mo's brother-in-law Bob is a very affable white Canadian, even when Mo's sister is distant. When Mo's nephew Osama has an off day at a baseball game, Mo blames Osama's Canadian genetics. And when Bob tells Mo off for going on the field, Bob apologizes immediately and Mo proudly notes that Bob actually showed some strength.
• Saturday Night Live: A sketch from early 2011 depicts "Celebrity Scoop", a fictional Canadian entertainment news show based in Winnipeg. The hosts are so nice that they miss the entire point of this kind of show.
  Edna Ledouf: First up in the gossip world, Celebrity Scoop has received some red-hot photos of Ryan Phillippe and Amanda Seyfried canoodling.
  Thomas: Yeah, yeah, that's right, you know. But we're not gonna show 'em, you know, 'cause that's private.

Music

• Five Iron Frenzy's "Oh Canada" is an Affectionate Parody of Canada. They briefly mention "The people are nice, and they speak French too" in the first verse, then move on to more bizarre claims (like yaks running free and venison slurpees).
• Jon Lajoie parodies this with MC Canadian Stereotype in "WTF Collective 2":
  But I don't want any trouble and I am always polite
  Now lets hop on my snowmobile and I will tell you what I like
• "Weird Al" Yankovic: Mentioned in the song "Canadian Idiot", an Affectionate Parody of Green Day's "American Idiot" from the point of view of an American nationalist. One of the things that the narrator hates about Canadians is that he finds them excessively polite, as mentioned in the last few lines of the song:
  Always hear the same kind of story
  Break your nose, and they'll just say "sore-y"
  Tell me, what kind of freaks are that polite?
  It's gotta mean they're all up to something
  So quick, before they see it coming
  Time for a preemptive strike!

Roleplay

• Trustfell Round Six: Tabby assumes that Estelle must be from Canada because she's very polite and Apologizes a Lot.

Video Games

• Civilization: The legendary Canadian politeness is represented by its "Four Faces of Peace" ability that makes Canada unable to declare, or be the target of, surprise wars. Even the in-game Civilopedia entry for Canada leans into stereotypes at its end by apologizing for being unable to convey the full depth of its history and achievements.
• Punch-Out!! Wii: Of the boxers, Canadian representative Bear Hugger is among the friendliest, goofing around with Mac in the ring and declaring himself "a hugger, not a fighter".

Webcomics

• Cyanide and Happiness: "The Delivery" follows a Canadian couple as the woman goes into labour. Her husband decides to elevate her pelvis by placing some objects under it, including a random man, who just smiles, gives a thumbs up, and says "Glad to help out, eh!"
• Hark! A Vagrant: In "Canadian Stereotype Comics":
  • The United States staves off a mob of upset Canadians by engaging them in polite conversation. The angry hockey fans instinctively respond back with "...thank you, it's so nice to be here."
  • A Canadian guy catches his wife in bed with another man — and all three of them end up apologizing to each other over the situation.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers: Canada is a shy, polite, and humble young man who likes to be left in peace and spends his time usually alone in a cabin with his polar bear Kumajiro. He is barely ever noticed next to his much louder and prouder brother America. Parodied, since he is so shy and friendly that he is literally invisible to most people, and there are instances in which other nations just sit down on him.
• Scandinavia and the World: Canada is represented by a very courteous and friendly man. When he runs into a door his first instinct is to apologize to the person he thought he bumped into. And then when he realizes it was a door, he apologizes to the door for thinking it was a person.
  The door did not know Canada mistakenly thought it was a person until Canada told it, so another apology is needed.

Web Video

• CollegeHumor features a video called "If Canadians Made a Rap Diss Video" in which a couple of highly-stereotypical backwoods Canadians try to diss America...but are just too polite to pull off properly.
• Pop Cross Studios:
  • Sterling Engeal, who comes from the Northwest Territories, according to Christian's notes. Sterling is a compassionate, optimistic person who serves as a Positive Friend Influence for most of the people he comes into contact with — in addition to immediately bonding with and protecting two kid superheroes, he helps Unkillable Kate outgrow the cynical, paranoiac, aggressive mindset she developed from 13 years growing up in a Hellhole Prison. That said, don't mistake his friendliness for weakness: Sterling is an experienced veteran demon hunter who has spent most of his life fighting in a war.
  • Captain Trenton A. Derable is a Friendly Pirate from Toronto who speaks in a broad Canadian accent that contrasts with his intimidating appearance, leads a crew of equally Canadian pirates on his ship, the Beauty Maple, and keeps a gigantic dire beaver as a pet. He and his crew travel the seas, robbing more malevolent pirates and giving their illegally-gained wealth to the poor. He's such a friendly, polite, charismatic man, that he even serves as a Morality Chain for Ex-Big Bad of the Multiverse Tales, Ulitus.

Western Animation

• American Dad!: Exaggerated in "The Old Country", when Stan and Steve have most of their internal organs stolen while on a trip to Canada. Nearby Canadians who witness the two wasting away gladly begin removing their own organs to donate to the pair, causing Steve to remark that the number one cause of death in Canada is being too kind.
• Dan Vs.: In "Dan Vs. Canada" this is how Chris describes the Canadian people to Dan. It's proven correct once they reach the Canadian border and they're ejected as the Mountie maintains a very kind demeanor even after Dan states his intentions to destroy the country.
• Family Guy:
  • In "Road to the North Pole", Stewie and Brian are stranded in the Canadian Arctic until a local resident offers them his snowmobile, all of his money, and one of his legs, citing "Canadian hospitality". Stewie takes a when-in-Rome attitude to this. That being said it's heavily implied the man is drunk, having come from Alcoholics Anonymous.
    Brian: Why'd we take his leg?
    Stewie: Well, we're in their country, Brian, we have to observe their customs.
  • "The Former Life of Brian" has a Cutaway Gag about Canadian Alcatraz, where the guard lets a prisoner out as long as he promises that he'll be back before bedtime.
• Lalaloopsy: In We're Lalaloopsy, Forest Evergreen is given a noticeable Canadian accent, and he's still a polite lumberjack who likes to help others out.

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