There are Québécois, and there are North Americans, and then there are a handful mining, oil, and gas companies that created a fake country for tax benefits. Canadians? what even is that? It's a fake identity based around a mediocre coffee chain. They couldn't even get the name right: There is no "i" in Canada, but they're Canadians, like people from America are Americians? That's how fake they are.
As a "Canadian" I can confirm that we don't exist.
Large segments of the high school curriculum is the attempt (and failure) to define a "Canadian identity", in particular more than just being a north american that's not american.
We should embrace our status as "second-rate America" because the only plausible alternative is "second-rate Britain" and that's so, so much worse.