Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Woman caught on video telling workers to 'go back to China' as she orders Chinese food

Film of the incident has been shared thousands of times on social media

Thursday 08 June 2017 13:15 EDT
Comments
Canadian women tells restaurant workers to go back to China whilst ordering Chinese food

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A woman was filmed telling workers to “go back to China” as she tried to order Chinese food from their shop.

The unidentified customer is heard berating staff members at the Foodymart in Toronto and claiming they do not speak English - which proved to be incorrect.

Although the video is just over a minute, the woman’s rant reportedly went on for approximately 15 minutes.

“Go back to China. This is Canada, English-first country,” the woman is heard saying in the video. “If you’re going to work here, it is the law to know English.”

Workers at private businesses in Canada do not need to speak English. Requirements to speak English and French only apply to certain employees at federal institutions.

The video was posted to Facebook and has more than 1.3 million views. It has also been shared more than 8,600 times.

In the post, Frank Hong, a student leader from Toronto, who was in the shop at the time of the incident, described the events as “absolutely horrendous”.

Next to the video, he wrote: “Let's raise awareness and make sure this never happens again in Canada. We, as Canadians and as the World, need to stand up to this bigotry, xenophobia and racism."

Toronto police said they are not investigating the encounter as a hate-related incident and no official complaint has been filed as of yet, according to CTV News Toronto.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in