You need to a) check to see where the product is made - your "Product of Canada" label does that part - you then need to b) check to see who owns the parent company. For example, Canadians love Habitant soups - Habitant soups are a) made in the US and b) owned by Campbells which is an American company so that one strikes out on two fronts.
It's not easy and requires a lot of research but as you become more and more familiar with which brands are truly Canadian (i.e. - made in Canada and owned by Canadians) it becomes easier to buy Canadian.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They ruined Habitant, it's pretty terrible now, you aren't missing out.

[–] GrackleBirb@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

100 - check out Sprague if you want a relatively easily available truly Canadian soup brand - you may have to go to a few stores but they are popping up at more and more places since this all started

[–] WizardGed@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

made in my hometown of Belleville!

[–] OldCrow@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

We need new labels: Who is profiting from this product???

[–] GrackleBirb@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

We do - we need something like Australia has where they show how Australian a product is (made there by a foreign company, made elsewhere by an Australian company, made there by an Australian company) - their labels even show the percentage of ingredients that come from Australia - we are nowhere close (yet!) to that level of transparency mostly because NAFTA and CUSMA have made it something people didn't care about it - until now :)

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Yeah, is it a Canadian or US billionaire?

[–] Levi@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Ethical shopping sure is exhausting. :|

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Ethical shopping sure is exhausting.

Doing the right thing is seldom the easiest path, but it is the right thing to do.

A saying I heard a while ago: taking the path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's more of a one time cost for most things. Once you know the brands that are Canadian, you just go and buy more of that brand the on your next trip to the grocery store.

So it's a one time effort to change your pattern, after that it's just going to the grocery store and picking more stuff like normal.

[–] Levi@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah, but my memory is kinda really bad. I've been trying to mostly buy stuff with a Canadian symbol on it, but if that isn't a reliable way to avoid american goods then I feel like there isn't much more I can do. I wish the government would reform their labeling laws. or something.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

In the end, I would suggest not buying these products at all. Buy Canadian flour that was made from Canadian wheat. Make your own pancakes instead of using these ultra processed products.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Or even better, make waffles instead.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

This. It's really not hard. Just takes a few minutes

Also, eggs are optional. You can use flax or chia seeds. Or a banana.

[–] Echolynx@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Can you use whole flax seeds?

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's better to use whole flax seeds for freshness, yes.

But throw them in a coffee grinder for a few seconds first

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Madeinca.ca is a great website that breaks it down a bit. You can just put in the product name.

Of course, it doesn't cover everything and the other response has a good way to check stuff yourself.