The parent was talking about how recently the Canadian (vs pre-Canadian, for lack of a better distinction terminology) population has moved there, which isn't l

The parent was talking about how recently the Canadian (vs pre-Canadian, for lack of a better distinction terminology) population has moved there, which isn't long enough to "feel" like ancestral connections claiming the land as theirs by family roots and birthright. A side effect is that settlements, cities, and expansion are quite new, globally-speaking, so there's not a lot of related deep physical history there either. All of those are orthogonal to the demographics. Where demographics come into play is that, in my experience, the issues of First Nations people are more a part of common Canadian politics than Native American issues are in the USA. That focus likely also plays against a sense of other Canadians feeling too rooted there.