Concerns of 'hateful racism' after Ontario Tenants's video of landlord ranting about people from India goes viral

[Cheri X]

A Waterloo, Ont., man is speaking out after his video of a landlord ranting about the South Asian community went viral.

Ashwin Annamalai said he used his cellphone to record the woman after she gave him the middle finger, an action he said was unprovoked, while he was out for a walk on Tuesday evening.

Annamalai said that after he confronted the woman to ask what he had done to deserve the gesture, she went on about how Indian people are invading Canada.

In the video, she's heard saying, "Indians are taking over Canada" and "go back to India."

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Annamalai said these types of interactions have become common for him and his friends, with some escalating to physical violence, which is why he chose to record the conversation.

"It's happened before and every time it happens, I'm shocked and taken aback at the state at which the community is deteriorating in terms of racism," said Annamalai.

"I decided I needed to document this because otherwise, it's just my word. It does not carry credible proof."

He also posted the video to his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, and it amassed over one million views in two days.

Annamalai said that since the beginning of this year, incidents such as these have happened weekly.

"I've lived here since 2018 and just until even the end of 2023, I've never experienced things of this magnitude before," he said.

"My friends, who are people of colour, also seem to regularly go through the same thing in Kitchener-Waterloo."

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The video has since gained the attention of local politicians, who have condemned the behaviour.

Annamalai pointed out that regional Councillors Colleen James and Rob Deutschmann, as well as Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis and Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice, have all reached out to him.

"Ashwin, I'm sorry that you and so many others in this community continue to face such hateful racism," James replied to Annamalai's post.

"This is terrible. There is no justification for this behaviour. Ashwin is a valued member of our Waterloo Region community and we are fortunate to have him here. Despite his experiences with overt racism, he continues to work selflessly to make our community a better place," Deutschmann posted to his X account.

[FighterLady]

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