Indian-origin man says 'disturbing rise in hate’ in Canada after woman vehemently asks him to return to India

Ottawa, Canada

An Indian-origin man in Canada has raised concerns about a "disturbing rise” in incidents of hate against Indians in Canada amid the increased tensions between the two countries. 

Ashwin Annamalai, who holds Canadian citizenship, said that he was the victim of a racist outburst from a woman who “mistakenly assumed” he was Indian. 

However, Annamalai confronted the woman when she asked him to "go back" where he came from. He filmed the conversation with the woman and shared it on X, saying that the “random woman gave him the finger and spewed hate” while he was out for a walk in Waterloo, Ontario.

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Annamalai came to Canada in 2018 as an international student and has gained Canadian citizenship since then. 

“I never faced the hardships the international students are facing nowadays. This is not the Canada I came to,” he told the Waterloo Region Record last month.

During his argument with the woman, Annamalai explained that he is not Indian. “I am Canadian,” he told her as she lashed out aggressively at him. 

“You’re not Canadian. I’m being aggressive to you because too many Indians are in Canada and I want you to go back,” she said, looking straight into Annamalai’s camera during her racist rant.

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“Go back, go back to India,” she yelled in the face of Annamalai’s repeated insistence that he is Canadian. “Your parents are not from Canada, your grandparents are not from here,” she added. 

However, as the heat triggered more between them, the woman started a new argument, saying, “You can’t even speak English.”

To this, Annamalai responded in French, asking the woman if she could talk in French – one of Canada's official languages.  

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She responded in English, insisting that she understood French, before stalking off while yelling profanities.

“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. 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,” Annamalai shared in his post on X.

Annamalai, while speaking to Waterloo Region Record last month, said that he did not face any racism in Canada until 2023.

(With inputs from agencies)