THUNDER BAY — After living in Canada for seven years, Arshdeep Singh is facing acts of racism and discrimination.
Singh lives on the North side of the city with a few friends. On Thursday they began a normal day, but when they got outside to leave for work, they saw their home had been vandalized.
The side of their home had hateful words painted in large black letters.
“We were very disappointed and hurt by seeing that,” Singh said.
“We have been living in this house for almost two years. It's a very nice neighbourhood, very decent people, but seeing this kind of stuff (makes us feel) that we do not belong here, and that's pretty hurtful. We didn't expect that, because we all left our home, our families, and came here to build our life in Canada. That's our goal. To see things happen like that to us, that people are not accepting us, it is really hurtful.”
Leaving your family and coming to a different country all by yourself with a dream is a lot of pressure, Singh said.
“You start working, even as a crew member in a restaurant or for a cleaning job or any other job you do, you are doing hard work. We all come here as a student first, so we have to save money for our tuition fees, and then we have to pay for our rents, our groceries, our transportation. You have to go through a lot of things while you are here to make up your life,” he said.
“We really need support from the community, from the people who are around us, so that we (don’t) feel different from other people.”
Singh said this is not the first time himself and his friends have been a victim of racism.
“I lived in BC and I moved here a couple of years ago. Here in Thunder Bay, I faced this for the very first time this summer.
“We all were walking down the road towards downtown and someone threw eggs on us and said, ‘go back home.’ It was four friends and we all live in the same house and they threw eggs on us and abused us. I was so, so disappointed. We all were pretty sad,” he said.
“We think because we don't look like the people who live here, that's why they treat us like that.”
Singh said his hope is more people will act like human beings.
“There are a lot of people who come here and help the community from different countries, and migrate here for different reasons to make their life. We all are going through a lot. Everyone is going through a lot. We have to be supportive with each other as a human being, so wherever we are from, wherever we belong, if we are Indian, or Canadian, we all are human beings.
“That's what matters. So be a human being.”
