Buy a TIM SIM Tourist in Canada (or for that matter, in USA)?

An iPhone SE 2nd gen should be able to support an eSIM data plan. I can't speak for others, but it was certainly worth it for me. I used Airalo to get an eSIM with 10Gb of data for 30 days for Germany and it cost a little over $20 (US). It worked very well for me, and I saved a lot of money.

Keep in mind that eSIM plans usually do not include a phone number, but I've never needed one.

I have Koodo as well and the same phone as you. I have used an eSim from Airalo several times over the past year (even bought one for at home this week as my wifi cable to my house was cut and I needed to use a lot more data than I usually do!) They work great and very easy!

I just used an esim for the first time (pixel 4a, verizon) and it worked great. I was a little nervous about all of the settings to make sure I wasn't getting charged by verizon, since I have the international service$10/day but never needed it and there were no charges. The key for me in the settings is for the verizon physical sim, I turned off roaming, data, calls. I did occasionally get a text message that came through but never got charged.
I used this article as reference https://abrokenbackpack.com/best-europe-esim-providers/#Airalo_eSIM_Eurolink_Plan
And chose BNESIM, because it was cheap and data doesn't expire. Using the discount code from the article I paid about$7 for 3gb data (no phone number, no texts). I used my phone pretty constantly for maps, whatsapp and web searches (but don't allow photos to upload to the cloud when not on wifi) and limited pictures I sent on Whatapp. After 2 weeks, I still have almost 2gb data left for the next time! Landing back in Boston, I just deactivated the esim (not deleted) and turned on data, roaming etc on my verizon sim, pretty seamless.
I had considered buying the TIM tourist sim before leaving, you can buy it online for 25Euro, and print out a voucher, which they say you can take to any TIM store (actual, not reseller) to just pick up the sim card. In theory that saves you from just walking into a TIM store and buying a tourist card for ~35-37Euro. But, when I went looking for a TIM store in Florence, because we had decided for one of us we'd get an actual sim, while we tested out the esim data, the first TIM store said they wouldn't have been able to give me the tourist sim with the voucher (I hadn't prebought it, was just asking) I tried 2 other TIM stores in Florence, one said their computers weren't working so they couldn't give any sims, and the other was closed. I checked prices at Windtre and Vodafone, they were both 35euro (TIM in Florence was 37) so I just got it a Vodafone.
Comparing the phone with Vodafone sim and the BNESIM, in the major cities, both had mostly the same coverage, there were a few times when Vodafone had better, and vice versa, but within the cities, coverage was mostly excellent for both.

I have used an eSim from Airalo several times over the past year (even bought one for at home this week as my wifi cable to my house was cut and I needed to use a lot more data than I usually do!)

star7781, that's a good idea!

@Mardee It's quite cheap - I use a prepaid service normally and just add boosters when needed since I don't use a ton of data. I paid $11USD for 2gb for 15 days with Airalo which I thought was a great price! I normally pay $30CAD for 1gb of data through my cell phone provider (no expiry on that).