Unwelcome & Unwanted: The South Asian Struggle in Contemporary Canada
By Neil Gonsalves | Hate and slurs against South Asians have increased significantly since January 2023 and it feels like a resurgence of the 90s era intolerance
Written by Neil Gonsalves for Seeking Veritas on Substack
The 2020 World Values Survey places Canada amongst the most racially tolerant countries in the world, with less than five per cent of those surveyed saying that they would not want to have “people of another race” as their neighbours, unfortunately for immigrants exposed to the less tolerant in Canadian society that survey brings very little comfort.
A hate crime reported to police in Peterborough, Ontario on July 26 2024, brought to light the experience of a man of Sikh ancestry who was spat on and had his turban knocked off and stepped on, another in a long list of growing incidents with troubling implications for the Indian diaspora in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, hate crimes toward South Asian communities, a demographic covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka increased by 143% between 2019 to 2022, a trend that seems to be continuing across the province of Ontario.
Beyond physical acts of intolerance and hate, the online world has been relentless in its vitriolic disdain for South Asians. From fringe platforms to mainstream social media there appears to be no refuge from the ire of a vocal minority of hateful Canadians calling South Asians “Pakis” (a derogatory term originating in the United Kingdom) and “Pajeets” (a derogatory made-up Indian name originating on 4chan in 2015) while expressing their disdain for “brown people” in the community and “their” neighbourhoods.
The Global Project Against Hate and Racism reported a large increase in hate and slurs directed toward South Asians globally since January 2023. “Anxieties around losing jobs, the perceived ‘subversion’ of white people, and both distrust and anger towards South Asians who are blamed for these problems are prevalent across platforms… The phrase, ‘they have to go back,’ which advocates for the deportation of Indian immigrants en masse from Canada, is worryingly reminiscent of a trend gaining popularity in Europe called “remigration,” which argues for ethnically cleansing the continent of non-Europeans through forced deportations” the report states. A prominent far-right influencer, Canadian military veteran Jeremy Mackenzie of the white supremacist movement Diagolon routinely advocates hate against South Asians and calls for first world countries to quarantine India otherwise Indians will colonize every first world country as part of a “Great Replacement” of white people.
Since January 2023, slurs directed at South Asians on fringe platforms such as 4chan, Telegram, and Truth Social have been rising exponentially, blaming the community for “replacing” white people. On platforms such as Facebook, hate directed at South Asians has become a common occurrence. On Instagram racism directed at South Asians routinely fill the comment sections. A partnered study, undertaken in early 2023 between the Angus Reid Institute (ARI) and the CRRF (Canadian Race Relations Foundation), allowed for a comparison between groups of Asian Canadians. At least one-quarter of all South Asians sampled reported that they faced discrimination or harassment over the past year.
In a CBC article Nandini Tirumala, Program Director for the Windsor Essex Anti-Hate Youth Collective, at the South Asian Centre of Windsor, commented that for international students dealing with learning a new culture, being away from family and coping with financial pressures, also having to focus on racism can be debilitating. "I think a lot of this is propelled by the economic conditions that have started to happen in the country. When people see there are no jobs, there's inflation, we're not able to find affordable housing, they want to find someone to blame. And oftentimes, it's the immigrants who are blamed."
A Sad 90s Re-run
When I delivered my TEDx Talk in 2022 I shared my experiences from the 1990s as a new immigrant with a South Asian background. The Ontario I found myself in had recently seen a large influx of new immigrants from South East Asia. According to Statistics Canada while the majority of 1980s entrants were European or North American, most of those arriving in mid-nineties were Asian. Interestingly the Asian cohort of the nineties had higher levels of education and were more likely to speak an official language than earlier European cohorts.
“About 2.2 million immigrants came to Canada in the 1990s, accounting for over half the population growth during that period, and representing the largest number of entrants for any decade in the past century. Nearly half (46%) of those who arrived in the 1990s (1.0 million people) were aged 25 to 44…This group contributed much to the growth of Canada’s labour force during the decade.”
The 1990s was also the first time I encountered the term, ‘Paki’, which I initially did not realize was intended to be derogatory. I remember clarifying for people early on that I was in fact Indian not Pakistani. Nobody back then seemed to care much for my clarification, to many it was a distinction without a difference. In Canada, I was a stranger and a visible minority, another term that I was previously unfamiliar with but one that would soon become a defining feature of my new identity. The term ‘Paki’ as I experienced it was not intended to signify a country of origin but rather the state of being different and unwanted.
I often heard harsh exhalations like “Go back to where you came from; get back on the boat; you people come here and take our jobs; and you people are a drain on our country”. I struggled with those words, they cut deeply and often made me second guess if this was truly a better place to be. The reality was the Canadian landscape was changing, the shades around them were darkening, the culture was shifting and that made people feel uncomfortable. For many of us immigrants however being tethered to stereotypes of our country of origin can be a barrier to full inclusion and a prime mover in the decision to socially and culturally isolate.
It has been almost thirty years since I arrived in Canada. For a long time now I believed the situation was improving. Perhaps I have assimilated more thoroughly, or perhaps the sting of being rebuked early on has become less emotionally charged over time. Today the labels imposed upon me by those less welcoming have less of a psychological impact as I have grown into my own Canadian identity. Witnessing recent racial and cultural hate faced by new immigrants is disheartening, it opens old wounds, and it pains me to see newcomers facing the same obstacles I had to face in the 90s. Their current struggles were my past struggles, their situation reminds me of the importance of empathy because I’ve been where they are and I know it doesn’t feel good.
Between 2016 and 2021, Canada brought in approximately 1.3 million immigrants. Census data from 2021 shows that migrants from India, the Philippines and China were the three most numerous groups of recent immigrants arriving in Canada. Around 18.6% of recent immigrants were born in India, 11.4% in the Philippines and 8.9% in China. It would appear that the visible presence of these minority groups has created a resurgence in the 90s era hate filled pushback. I feel their pain, it is disheartening to come to a country known for its friendly tolerant people, with hopes and dreams of making a better life for your children, only to be made to feel unwanted and unwelcome. Worse still to be labelled a pariah!
If only more people knew that Canada’s immigration policies have rarely prioritized humanitarianism; our immigration policy is firmly rooted in economic development and growth of the Canadian economy. Immigrants serve to fill labour gap shortages, maximize investment capital, and increase the tax base that is consistently shrinking due to our aging population. If facts could counter bigotry I would offer the following:
More than 80% of the immigrants admitted in recent years are under 45 years old, meaning they will have plenty of working years in Canada. - That means more taxes and more spending in the economy.
The income tax paid by working Canadians pays for health care, education and other vital services. In 1980, there were roughly 6 workers for every retiree. In 2015, there were 4 workers for every retiree. By 2030, when 5 million Canadians are set to retire, the ratio will be down to only 3 workers for every retiree. - Without immigrants to help offset the trends of an aging population, Canada would not be able to offer the same level of services to its residents into the future.
Immigrants account for 32% of all business owners with paid staff. They create local jobs in numerous sectors of the economy.
International students contribute more than $21 billion to the economy every year through student spending and tuition. Their spending amounts to more than Canada’s exports of auto parts, lumber or aircraft.
About the author: Neil Gonsalves is an Indian-born Canadian immigrant who grew up in Dubai, U.A.E. and moved to Canada in 1995. He is an Ontario college educator, a TEDx speaker, an author and columnist, and an advocate for new immigrant integration and viewpoint diversity.
Seeking Veritas on Substack | Sankarsingh-Gonsalves Productions. 2024 ©️
Notes:
Online Racism Targeting South Asians Skyrockets - Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
Canada’s Far-Right is Targeting South Asian and Sikh Canadians to Incite Anti-Immigrant Hate
South Asian newcomers to Canada say online hate is taking a toll
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