Moderators of Barrie’s Reddit page have locked a post discussing prejudice faced by the local Indian community after several racially abusive comments.
On Sunday, a post on r/Barrie, a public forum focused on coverage of local issues, discussed the social ostracism felt by members of the Indian community. It described how white neighbours refuse to return polite greetings from the author writing under the handle Additional-Dog9714.
“It’s hard not to feel the coldness,” the poster, a member of the Sikh faith, wrote. “There are many Indian families here in South Barrie [and] around Maple, and sadly, many of us are feeling this same distance from others.”
In the hours after its publication, the piece generated 128 comments. Several of these responses, ostensibly written by people others with close ties to Barrie’s South Asian communities, corroborated the cold treatment mentioned in the post.
“It’s insane the amount of microaggressions I see towards [my Indian-born boyfriend] daily, even from our neighbours,” wrote one poster who identified herself as a white woman living in south Barrie.
“People in our neighbourhood will greet me when they see me alone, but fully ignore us if he’s there.”
Other comments charted a very different course. In one, a respondent congratulated the author for participating in unfamiliar holiday traditions, like Christmas and Halloween. “[It’s] a shame that only a small minority of your sub-culture have embraced Canadian culture the way you and your family have.”
“Stereotypes exist for a reason,” wrote another. “Unfortunately you’re suffering because of it. I personally won’t buy anything used from an [Indian] person because often times they are scams or are selling lemons. So I just steer clear of them all together.”
“I need to avoid potential problems so I choose not to deal with the whole group of people because I can’t tell [them] apart,” another commenter wrote.
“I’m sorry you’re dealing with this, but I honestly believe a lot of immigrants here are wrecking it for [you] and Canadians are fed up,” added yet another.
Within hours of its publication, the post was locked by moderators, a move that blocks users from posting additional comments. “Locking this one up, as discussions are starting to go off the rails and I see a lot of comments name calling/insulting others,” a moderator wrote. “Thanks to everyone that kept the discussions on topic and civil.”
According to the World Sikh Organization of Canada’s chief legal council and spokesperson Balpreet Singh, the situation is “disappointing but not surprising.”
“Seeing this sort of thing online is disappointing, but not surprising. It’s a toxic environment and there’s been a growth in anti-immigrant and anti-Sikh activity in recent years. But we’ve been dealing with this for a long time — Sikhs have been living in Canada for more than 125 years.”
He says that anti-Sikh activity often flares up whenever community members move to new cities unfamiliar with their culture. “Because we wear articles of faith — our turbans and beards — we really stand out. Getting the local community to understand who we are takes time. Eventually, though, they’ll learn we are, generally, nice people.”
Singh, who was raised in Queensville near East Gwillumbury and is now living in Holland Landing, says he has detected a clear shift in attitudes within his own lifetime. “When I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I encountered a lot of racism. Now, my kids are growing up and things are very different and much more welcoming.”
Not all prejudice faced by members of Canada’s Indian community comes from the outside. In the year since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of murdering B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, tensions between Canada’s Sikh and Hindu communities have threatened to boil over.
“The term South Asian community isn’t a particularly useful one,” says Singh. “That’s an incredibly diverse group and I can only speak as a member of Canada’s Sikh community.”
On Sunday, Peel Police arrested three Sikh men during a violent protest outside a Hindu temple in Brampton. The same evening, Ron Banerjee, a far-right Hindu nationalist called on protesters to “Storm the. . . Sikh temples,” before police intervened.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, the incidents are not reflective of his city.
“[Banerjee] isn’t from Brampton. He came to the City last night to encourage violence. Agitators trying to incite violence need to be dealt with promptly and swiftly with the full extent of our hate laws,” Brown wrote in a tweet.
The next day, a man dressed in an Indian flag attacked a police officer with a noxious substance. According to police, the individual has not yet been apprehended.
“The individuals who are seeking to foment violence, division and shared in no way represent either the Sikh community or the Hindu community,” added Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a press scrum.
The Reddit post also concluded the post with a similar message. “No one’s actions should represent a whole group. History in Canada has shown us why this is important. There was the head tax on Chinese immigrants, the Komagata Maru ship with Indian refugees that was turned away, Black migrants rejected at the border, and the harm done to Indigenous children in Residential Schools. We have learned these lessons, and today, we should try to be better.”
