Indian-origin man says ‘I’m Canadian’ to woman’s rac rant, flags ‘durbing rise in hate’ | Trending

An Indian-origin man has raised concerns about a “durbing rise” in incidents of hate against Indians in Canada as diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorate. Ashwin Annamalai says he was the victim of a rac outburst from a woman who “makenly assumed” he was Indian, even though he holds Canadian citizenship. An Indian-origin man documented his encounter with a rac Canadian woman.(X/@ignorantsapient) Annamalai confronted the woman after she aggressively asked him to “go back” where he came from. He filmed the ensuing exchange 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. Annamalai came to Canada in 2018 as an international student and has since gained Canadian citizenship. “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. “You’re not Canadian”In his exchange with the woman, Annamalai took great pains to explain that he is not Indian. “I am Canadian,” he told her at least twice as he asked why she lashed out aggressively at him. The woman responded asking the Indian-origin man to go back where he came from. “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 rac rant. “Go back, go back to India,” she yelled in the face of Annamalai’s repeated insence that he is Canadian. “Your parents are not from Canada, your grandparents are not from here,” she told him. When Annamalai tried to reason with her, she presented a new argument: “You can’t even speak English.” To this, the Indian-origin man responded in French and asked the unnamed woman if she could talk in French, which is one of Canada’s official languages. She responded in English, insing that she understood French, before stalking off while yelling profanities. You can watch the video here. (Viewer discretion advised. Video contains language that may be durbing to some viewers). “She wrongly assumed”Sharing the video on the social media platform X, Annamalai wrote that the woman “wrongly assumed” he was Indian. “When I challenge her very politely she went about her rac 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,” he revealed. Speaking to Waterloo Region Record last month, he had said that he did not face any racism in Canada until 2023. The recent rise in hate comes against the backdrop of escalating tension between India and Canada. In fact, as proof of Ashwin Annamalai’s charge of increased racism, he had to contend with further hate on X, where dozens of people supported the unnamed woman and asked him to go back to India.