That’s surprising. Not that I’ve polled everyone I know, but I suspect I know very few Canadians who would take that stand. Maybe there’s a regional element to it? Or maybe there’s an element of context that would make it more understandable to me?
I can’t remember ever hearing anyone say “I’m (an) American” who didn’t mean “I’m from the USA.” Indeed, many of my compatriots have deep tendencies toward knee-jerk anti-Americanism (a term that means specifically anti-USA) that would cause them to go nuts to be referred to as “(an) American.” (I’d forgive you for thinking that describes me right now, but I’m just making a point about clarity, not exactly in a lather here.)
When Trump’s slogan reads “Make America Great Again”, nobody thinks he’s talking about North, South and Central America, and I’ve not heard anyone argue that it would be more proper to say “Make the USA Great Again”. When a British politician refers to “the Americans” nobody hears anything but a relatively casual way of saying “the United States”, and likewise you won’t hear a Canadian politician refer to Canadians as “Americans”.
