Bigotry in Toronto

Discrimination and xenophobia are very present in Canadian society — multiculturalism surrounds us, and it can be difficult for some people to understand every ritual of every citizen. Therefore, false prejudices are made about cultures, which can lead to segregation and exclusion.

Let’s say there’s a new immigrant from Iraq who goes to a mainly Caucasian school. The students there have little knowledge about Iraqi culture so they observe the new boy. One child thinks his food stinks, not knowing this is an Iraqi staple, so he tells the others to leave the new boy as he eats “dirty garbage”. Now everybody discriminates against him and he becomes an outsider. Is he a refugee? Did he have to escape? These are the questions that we must ask so we can abolish the misunderstandings and allow the new boy and everybody else to live in harmony.

Recently, my friend had to face a similar situation — one that really made me think about the state of racism in this country.

““GO BACK TO CHINA, Go back to CHINA.” I never thought I’d hear those words in real life but this just happened as I was trying to get some food at a Chinese specialty store. After three minutes of constant, racist verbal abuse and after trying to intervene, I started to film this video. Racism and xenophobia isn’t far from us nor has it gone away. As Canadians we think we are safe from these disgusting attitudes and behaviors but we aren’t. It has only gotten worse recently. It seems like some people want to reinstate the Chinese Exclusion Act. It makes me nothing but seething mad that this lady had the audacity to spew such toxic words while exploiting POC cultures. Absolutely Horrendous. And shout out to the lady who tried to help despite the terrible situation. I have never seen someone with so much kindness and compassion, it is truly breathtaking. Love in the face of hate, she is really a role model for all of us.”

Let’s raise awareness and make sure this never happens again in Canada. We, as Canadians and as the World, need to stand up to this bigotry, xenophobia and racism. Myself, as a student leader in Toronto, will do everything I can to stop this kind of racism. We all need to step up so that people won’t have to witness such situations ever again.