The quiet normalization of hostility toward Indo-Canadians should be named and refused.
Recently, a way of talking about Indo-Canadians has been spreading online, one that treats them less as fellow citizens and more as guests who might overstay. It fits into a mindset that seeks to divide Canadians by origin, reading the worst into an entire community and presenting it as the rule rather than the exception.
The trend is measurable. According to Statistics Canada, police-reported hate crimes targeting Canada’s South Asian population, the category that includes Indo-Canadians, rose four years in a row through 2023, and climbed again in 2024, up 15 percent to 321 incidents. When hostile narratives spread unchecked, they don’t stay online. They harden into real-world consequences, including rising hatred.
Belonging is not a matter of origin
This is not to dismiss concerns about immigration levels and integration, which are real and should be addressed. The point is to keep them separate from the idea that a Canadian’s worth depends on where their family began. Canada was built in large part as an open and welcoming home to people from around the world. An Indo-Canadian who builds a life, a business, and a family here has joined the Canadian project as fully as anyone whose roots run back generations.
Rather than rank our citizens, we can address real challenges while holding fast to the openness that has long made Canada stronger. That openness, carried forward, is how we remain a country worth belonging to.
Spencer Fernando
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