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Its findings follow months of plummeting cross-border travel as Canadians boycott U.S. tourism out of protest or fear — a trend the survey suggests may “get worse before it gets better,” Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the ACS, told the Star.

“I think it’s good for neither country that we feel this level of anxiety towards our neighbours,” Jedwab said. “I hope the prime minister, who seems very good at this type of dialogue, takes that into consideration in terms of the ongoing efforts at rebuilding our relationship.”

Canadians feel unwelcome in the U.S.

The survey of 1,626 Canadians found 52 per cent of people feel “it is no longer safe for all Canadians travelling to the United States.” Twenty-nine per cent disagreed with the sentiment and 19 per cent were unsure.

This belief was felt most strongly among respondents over 55 and in residents of Atlantic Canada, British Columbia and Ontario. People aged 18 to 54 and people in Alberta were less inclined to agree.

A larger proportion, 54 per cent of respondents, say they no longer “feel welcome” in the U.S. Here, 27 per cent disagreed and 19 per cent were uncertain.

“I was surprised that the level of anxiety was that high,” Jedwab said. “That’s just not a healthy level of anxiety in terms of our relationship with the United States.”

Trump previously referred to the Canada-U.S. border as an “artificially drawn line” — but 47 per cent of those surveyed disagreed with that statement. Meanwhile, 23 per cent believed the border was “drawn artificially,” while 30 per cent weren’t sure.

Canadians aged 18 to 24 were less certain of the border’s legitimacy. Just 32 per cent disagreed that the border was drawn artificially; 29 per cent agreed with the statement and 39 per cent did not know.

Canadian travel to the U.S. may get worse before it gets better

Canadian travel to the U.S. has cratered after Trump took office. In March, trips made from Canada into the U.S. plummeted by nearly a million compared to the same time last year, comprising the second consecutive month of year-over-year decreases.

Immigration lawyers previously told the Star much of the decline has been driven by “fear” as headlines of Canadians detained while crossing the border proliferate. Both sides of the border have become more stringent in their security measures, noted Evan Green, managing partner at immigration law firm Green and Spiegel.

“The bottom line is, things are tougher — and we’re seeing it on both sides of the border, both going into the United States and coming into Canada,” he said.

Jedwab is concerned the growing animosity and anxiety of Canadians could snowball and further degrade the relationship between the two countries. He said he’s concerned that Americans would retaliate in kind and boycott travel to Canada — indeed, recent Statistics Canada data noted a five per cent drop in U.S. visitors to Canada in February year-over-year.

“I’d actually not like for us to no longer travel to the United States as a means of sort of responding to what we’re seeing from the politicians on the other side of the border,” Jedwab added. “Ideally, we need to find better ways of addressing that.”

Methodology

The survey was conducted over the period of May 1 to 3, 2025, involving 1,626 respondents in Canada. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of 1626 respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.