‘This is my home’: Waterloo residents urge region to combat rise in hate crimes

A viral video of a Waterloo man being told to “go back to India” spread around the internet like wildfire earlier this month, receiving nearly two million views on X in less than two weeks.

On Wednesday, that man and a colleague spoke in front of regional councillors about the alarming rise in racism in Waterloo Region.

The man behind the camera in the video, Ashwin Annamalai, and his colleague, Shiva Subramanian, were emotional in council chambers as they spoke out against the hate they say they’ve been receiving in their own community.

According to Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime data, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo has the highest rate of reported hate crimes amongst all metropolitan areas in Canada, followed by Peterborough and the Ottawa-Gatineau.

Of course, those statistics only account for crimes that are reported to authorities.

“We want Waterloo Region to be number one, but not for the wrong reasons,” said Subramanian. “I think our lived experiences in the past year adds to the data that we’re seeing.”

Annamalai said an incident that took place in downtown Kitchener about a month and a half ago represented a turning point.

“It all culminated when Shiva and I were verbally berated and pushed in downtown Kitchener on a public sidewalk just because someone didn’t like the way we look and the colour of our skin,” said Annamalai.

Following these events, they spoke to local elected officials, but they argued their cries seemingly fell on deaf ears as they saw no direct action come from their conversations.

Annamalai spoke to regional councillors not only about how racist comments and hate crimes are wrong from a humanitarian standpoint but also about how it could have a negative financial impact on the region. He added that this uptick in hate crimes could keep people from moving to Waterloo Region in the first place.

He also argued that institutions like Conestoga College need to invest some of their capital into combatting racism.

“They have a $250 million surplus, they in good faith as a community college should step up for the people in the community and their own students,” said Annamalai.

He said the region has a responsibility to solve this, adding that it has the power to start an advertising campaign to combat hate crimes and racism in region-owned spaces like bus stops and cranes.

“This is my home, we have a problem, we will come together as one united community,” said Annamalai.

Councillor Sue Foxton noted that everyone in council chambers on Wednesday is an immigrant in one way or another.

“No government can legislate respect, no government can legislate decency, it has to come from us, each and every one of us,” said Foxton.

Councillor Colleen James said she showed her seven-year-old daughter Annamalai’s video, explaining to her that she shouldn’t let anyone tell her that she doesn’t belong here.

“As someone who is from this community, I never thought that this would be the point that we’re at today,” said James.

Regional Chair Karen Redman noted that staff will consider the recommendations moving forward, and said regional council will come back to the table with action items to combat hate.