Is Tim Hortons Canadian?

It's as Canadian as hockey, the maple leaf and Canada geese.

Or is it?

In the past, Tim Hortons rightfully earned its place as a Canadian icon, starting with one coffee shop in Ontario and eventually building an empire that made Timbits and double doubles part of the national lexicon.

But after the company was bought by U.S. burger chain Wendy's, and later became part of a holding company backed by a Brazilian investment firm, did it forfeit its claim to Canadian identity?

The topic has been hotly debated online — and likely in coffee shops across the nation — in the wake of the patriotic fervour whipped up by tariff and annexation threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

A recent social media post from the company declares it to be "proudly Canadian," but many of the 2,500 comments below dispute the statement, insisting it is not Canadian, but rather American or Brazilian. Posts about the topic in "Buy Canadian" groups on social media sites have devolved into the same debate.

So where does the truth lie? What makes a company Canadian? Is it the ownership? The supply chain? The franchise locations? The employees? The headquarters? Or is it something more intangible — a reflection of our values, history or traditions? 

First, let's look at the hard facts.

Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 by longtime Toronto Maple Leafs player Tim Horton, and was later taken over by Nova Scotia-born Ron Joyce after Horton's death in 1974.

In 1995, the business was bought by American burger chain Wendy's, and in 2014 became part of Restaurant Brands International.

This is where the idea of Tim's being Brazilian comes from. Restaurant Brands International's largest shareholder was the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital.

In 2014, at the time of the takeover, 3G held 47 per cent of the voting power in Restaurant Brands International, but that has slowly decreased over time to 26 per cent as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Today, Canadian banks such as Toronto Dominion, Bank of Montreal, National Bank and Royal Bank, as well as Canadian institutional investors such as the CPP Investment Board, cumulatively hold a stake comparable to 3G, according to Michael Oliveira, the director of communications for Tim Hortons.

"We understand how this 'Brazilian-owned' narrative evolved over time but it's simply not accurate," he said in an email.