With the expection of healthcare and construction, Canadian work experience isn't particularly unique.

Ah ok. Bunch of my friends from canada in tech reported that as the main reason for not being able to land a tech job :).

I seen tons of these questions on quora and other sites too

https://www.quora.com/As-a-Canadian-employer-why-do-you-thin...

so there is def something going on.

As an American in Canada: yes.

In practice, it's mostly a resume-filter thing -- working for a year in a cafe part-time was enough to get me to an interview for a software Pro Services gig

(I had the degree and experience for it, too, but that cleared the "work in Canada" hurdle)