Officials rally behind Ontario man who was told to ‘go back to India’ in viral video

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Canadian officials have expressed support for a man of Indian descent after a woman was filmed demanding that he “go back to India.” Ashwin Annamalai shared his encounter on X on Oct. 16, amassing over 1.7 million views since.

What happened: In the video, Annamalai is seen calmly confronting the woman for allegedly giving him “the finger” unprovoked while he was walking on a sidewalk in Waterloo on Oct. 15. When asked why she was being aggressive, the woman replied, “I’m being aggressive to you because there are too many Indians in Canada and I want you to go back. Go back to India.” Annamalai, who became a Canadian citizen after moving from India as an international student in 2018, corrected the woman, but she insisted that his parents and grandmother were not Canadian. Asked if becoming a Canadian is a crime, the woman went on to claim, “It’s a crime when there’s so many Indians [and Africans] taking over Canada.” Unfortunately, the encounter was only one of many Annamalai has seen. “I’ve been experiencing elevated incidents of hate and racism over the past few months,” he told CTV News, noting that his friends have also witnessed the same. A friend reported Annamalai’s latest encounter to the Waterloo Regional Police Service, who are now investigating.

The once welcoming community of Kitchener-Waterloo has seen a disturbing rise in hate, particularly against people of colour. Here’s a personal account of what I experienced today: A random woman gave me the finger & spewed hate while I was out for a walk at Erb/Avondale 🧵 1/n pic.twitter.com/TxvXeXW3Yd

— Ashwin Annamalai (@ignorantsapient) October 15, 2024

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Gaining support: Several local officials expressed support for Annamalai, including Regional Councilor at the Region of Waterloo Colleen James, who wrote on X, “I’m sorry that you and so many others in this community continue to face such hateful racism.” Rob Deutschmann, another regional councilor, called the incident “terrible” in his post, adding, “There is no justification for this behavior.” The Waterloo region reported the highest rate of hate crimes in Canada last year, with 34 cases per 100,000 people, WRPS Chief Mark Crowell told CBC News.

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