Canadian expat roasts Aussie approach to friendship: 'Spot on'

A Canadian expat has shared her eye-opening perspective on the contrasting dynamics of forging friendships in Canada and Australia.

In a widely circulated TikTok video, Ioana, who regularly documents her entertaining culture shock experiences, presents her perspective on the differences between making friends in the two countries — and the hot-take has left many Aussies feeling a tad sheepish.

Identifying herself as a Canadian currently living in Australia, Ioana sets the scene by providing a funny reenactment of making friends in both nations. She begins by emphasising the strength and depth of Canadian friendships, exclaiming, "Hey man, do you wanna hang out this weekend, next weekend, and potentially every weekend after that?"

"I'll introduce you to my friends, you can introduce me to your friends and we can build this tightly knit community around like two or three really close friendship groups, where you'll feel loved and supported, and you'll always feel like you have someone to hang out with and we'll be friends for many years to come."

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In contrast, Ioana depicts Australian friendships as tending to be more surface-level. Impersonating an Aussie, she says, "Oh, I can't hang out this weekend. I've overcommitted myself to like six different events and 30 different friendship groups."

She goes on to add, "and the only way that I'm gonna be vulnerable with you is if I'm completely plastered and you don't drink that much. So even if I don't drink I'm gonna wanna keep things pretty superficial because feelings make me uncomfortable."

She jokingly captions the video, "FLAKES, the lot of ya!!!"

'Friendships are surface level'

Thousands of locals and tourists responded to the video, with many echoing the TikToker's observations. "As an Australian, can confirm most of us haven't made a new friend since high school," commented one person, and another added, "Spot on. It's really hard to make friends in Australia."

The realisation hit home for many, as they acknowledged the difficulty in making new connections beyond school friends. "Having stayed in both Canada and Australia, this is facts," someone said. "Australians mostly stay with their high school mates and friendships are surface level."

"Kiwi living in Australia," chimed in another, "Facts facts factssss. There's no depth in the friendship and I miss the sense of community."

"Australian here... you're telling me the rest of the world isn't like this? Time to move," joked a viewer.

Canadians weigh in

However, not everyone agreed with the observations made about Canadian friendships. Some viewers who had experienced living in Canada shared their own perspectives, highlighting the difficulties they encountered when trying to make friends in the country.

"I've lived in Canada for eight years, three provinces and I have no clue what you are talking about. Who are these Canadians?" asked one person. "I've never experienced making friends this way. We live in very different realities of Canadian friendships," added someone else. "Making friend in Canada is ridiculously hard. People have their groups and are resistant to outsiders," another Canuck agreed.

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