Surge in hate slurs against Indian-origin people in Canada, reveals report

India Today

12 hours ago

Canada has taken a U-turn on its welcome all policy in the past year. Now, it has seen a sharp rise in hate crimes against South Asian communities. The use of hate-filled slurs directed mainly against Indian-origin people rose by 1,350% between 2019 and 2023, according to a UK-based think tank.According to The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) – a UK-based think tank and non-profit organisation that focusses on countering extremism, hate, and disinformation – hate crimes against South Asian communities increased by a staggering 227% between 2019 and 2023. The hate crimes are reportedly both online and offline.advertisementAccording to the ISD, posts containing anti-South Asian slurs, primarily targeting immigrants of Indian origin, surged by more than 1,350% on X during the same period.
The increase in anti-South Asian hate speech online has not just been seen in Canada but also in the US and the UK.This is not only putting the physical and emotional safety of these communities at risk but is also having an effect on their civic engagement and participation in public life.The report claimed that the anti-South Asian rhetoric surged online ahead of the Canadian election, fuelled by domestic extremists.Between March 1 and April 20, 2025, in the lead-up to Canada's federal election, over 2,300 posts containing anti-South Asian rhetoric were shared across various platforms, which collectively generated over 1.2 million engagements, the report, which was released last Thursday, stated.advertisementThe use of keywords, such as slurs, provides an indication of the scale of hate targeting South Asians.One of the most common slurs is "pajeet", an invented name which sounds "Indian" and which emerged among far-right accounts in spaces such as 4chan. While "pajeet" and its variants remain popular among far-right users, they have also been adopted by a range of groups, according to the report.Between May 2023 and April 2025, there were over 26,600 posts which included "pajeet" and other anti-South Asian slurs in the Canadian context, compared to nearly 1,600 posts containing anti-Muslim slurs, the report stated.'DIRTY, DANGEROUS AND CLANNISH': SLURS, HATE FOR INDIANSIndians in Canada are also frequently subjected to stereotypes that portray them as "unclean", "unskilled", or "threatening"."Hateful posts contained wider stereotypes of Indians being dirty, dangerous and clannish; by contrast to earlier caricatures of Indians being overly educated, they are often portrayed as lacking formal skills or training," the report said.The report also observed that Indians were commonly targeted with language invoking the Great Replacement, an implicitly anti-semitic conspiracy theory alleging that non-white migration to Western countries is part of a plan by elites to deliberately change country demographics, which has been influential in a number of terrorist attacks.advertisementA significant contributor to anti-South Asian hate in Canada is the extremist network Diagolon, which emerged in late 2020 as a collective of far-right live streamers and their supporters, the report said.Led by de facto figurehead Jeremy MacKenzie, a former Canadian Armed Forces member, these streamers promote racism and anti-government conspiracy theories, often cloaked in heavy doses of humour and irony to shield themselves from criticism.The rise of anti-South Asian hate across Canada, both online and offline, represents an urgent threat to these communities and to the country's social fabric, the report also said.- EndsMust Watch