'Too Many Indians In Canada, Go Back’: Indian-Origin Man Faces Hate Speech In Ontario | Video

An Indian-origin man recently faced a hateful encounter while walking in the Kitchener-Waterloo region in Ontario, Canada, where he was shown the middle finger and subjected to hate speech. In a video shared on social media, Ashwin Annamalai recounted being confronted by an elderly woman who told him to “return to India” because of his Indian heritage.

In a long thread posted on X, Annamalai described the encounter as deeply unsettling, highlighting a trend of rising hate crimes against people of colour in the region. He expressed his concerns in a post, saying, “The once welcoming community of Kitchener-Waterloo has seen a disturbing rise in hate A random woman gave me the finger & spewed hate while I was out for a walk.”

‘Go back to India’

In the video shared by the Indian-origin man, a Canadian woman can be heard abusing him for his Indian heritage. When the man asked the reason for the woman’s aggression towards him, the lady said,” I am being aggressive to you because there are too many Indians in Canada. And I want you to go back. Go back to India. Your parents are not Canadians and your grandparents are not Canadians.”

Sharing the incident on social media, Annamalai said, “She WRONGLY assumed I am Indian and I must leave immediately. When I challenged her very politely she went about her racist rants… She also is upset that there are black people in the community. She also accuses me of not speaking English & that I need to just leave.”

‘Harassing well-meaning Canadians’

He noted that the woman’s tirade not only targeted him but also included derogatory comments about other communities. Annamalai shared a report indicating that the Waterloo region has the highest rate of police-reported hate crimes in the country.

“This isn’t an isolated incident. Such hate-filled encounters have been happening regularly since the beginning of the year, & people seem to be getting more emboldened. I’ve spoken about the racism faced by international students in our community,” the Indian-origin man wrote on X.

“Harassing well-meaning Canadians on the streets and blaming them for no rhyme or reason isn’t the solution to the challenges we face. We as a community can definitely do much better than blaming each-other & come together to find solutions to problems that plague all of us,” he added. This incident comes as the trend of immigration to Canada from India has seen a remarkable surge in recent years. The number of new Indian permanent residents (PRs) has skyrocketed, rising from 39,340 in 2015 to 139,785 in 2023.