Ontario man told to 'go back to India' explains why he shared video of the encounter online

Ashwin Annamalai walking in Waterloo, Ont. on Oct. 18, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV News)

A Waterloo, Ont. man is sharing video of a recent encounter with a stranger to give others an idea of the hate he experiences in the community.

Ashwin Annamalai was out for a walk when a woman made an obscene gesture at him from the other side of the street.

“She made an aggressive gesture with both her hands. And I was confused,” he said. “I walk up to her and I ask her: ‘Was that at me?’ And she's like: ‘Yeah.’”

Annamalai said he confronted the woman because he was concerned he had done something to upset her.

“If I did something wrong, if I cut you off in traffic, or I littered, something to piss people off, I got to own up to it and I got to go and fix it, right? So that's why I wanted to engage with her so that she doesn't have to be mad at me.”

The video doesn't show the beginning of the interaction, but Annamalai said he started recording so people would believe him.

“There's no proof, it didn't happen in this day in age. If there was no video, you wouldn't be talking to me right now.”

In the video, the person can be heard saying to Annamalai: “I’m being aggressive to you because too many Indians are in Canada and I want you to go back.”

Annamalai, a Canadian citizen, believes no one deserves to be told to they don’t belong.

“I just want people to be kind to each other and people should have the ability to walk on a public sidewalk without being asked to go back, whether [they’re] Indian, Canadian, North Korean,” he said. “It doesn't matter. It's a public sidewalk and we all have the charter right to be here.”

A friend of Annamalai’s reported the incident to the Waterloo Regional Police Service. They continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“WRPS was made aware of the video and reached out to the victim to have a report filed. Additional support was also provided to the victim by our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Unit,” said Const. Melissa Quarrie.

Annamalai said he and his friends have seen more acts of racism in recent months.

"She asked me to go back and, at that point, I did not know where to go back [too],” he explained. “I've been experiencing elevated incidents of hate and racism over the past few months."

Since posting the video, Annamalai has received a lot of support from the community. While CTV News was interviewing him on Friday, a woman stopped her car to tell Annamalai she supports him.

“I was really disappointed to hear that that was an experience happening right here in our community,” Shannon Henderson said. “I recognized the houses, so I knew exactly where it was and it was just really disappointing. I think that you are so well-spoken and you handled the situation with grace. I'm really ashamed that that's our community experience. And that's people's lived experiences here.”

“You make Canada home,” Annamalai replied.

“You are home,” Henderson answered back. “You are home.”

Catherine Fife, the Member of Provincial Parliament for Waterloo, also raised concerns after seeing the video online.

“We know that many Ontarians are facing challenges in their daily lives, but expressing that frustration with bigoted language that is directed at others is never acceptable,” she stated in an email to CTV News.

People have made comments on the post about the woman’s mental health and immigrant students, but Annamalai said those are government issues and that’s out of his control.

"The system has failed people with mental health issues. Nobody deserves to be asked to go back… that's not right. The system should support people with mental health issues," he said. “You’ve got to understand, international students are paying like $40,000 to $50,000 to get a diploma in this community. They are our guests. We cannot expect students to fix the inflation crisis, the cost of living crisis. We’ve got to look up to our political leadership for answers, not the students, and especially not screaming at random people on the street. Screaming at random people on the street is not going to help you with your mortgage payment or rising rent.”

Annamalai said this experience won’t stop him from walking outside on a nice day, but he wants everyone to show a little more compassion.

“This is my home and, [if] we have a leaky roof, we are going to fix it together,” said Annamalai.