Between March 1 and April 20, just before the election in Canada, there were more than 2,300 social media posts on X from Canadian accounts targeting South Asians, and the easy target was former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. A report titled ‘The Rise of Anti-South Asian hate in Canada’, conducted by UK-based Institute for Strategic Dialog, revealed the trend of a steep rise in hate toward South Asians in Canada, Toronto Star reported. The report said Canada is being used as an example of what happened when immigration policies led to an “invasion” of South Asian migrants. The report noted that while the study was on social media hatred, the trend is not limited to the online world. “Between 2019 and 2023, police-reported hate crimes against South Asians in Canada increased by more than 200 per cent, according to Statistics Canada,” the report said. Analyst at ISD Steven Rai told the Toronto Star that these stereotypes are being promoted by domestic extremists and then getting picked up by people all around the world. Rai said Jagmeet Singh is a target of hate not only because he’s a brown man who wears a turban, but also because he’s articulate, well-dressed and has reached the upper echelons of Canadian society. “If you’re a white supremacist and you’re seeing someone like Jagmeet Singh flourish and gain prominence in Canadian politics and in society … a person like that is really seen as a profound threat,” Rai said.Jagmeet Singh stepped down as the party chief after he lost his seat in British Columbia in the election. He lost his sear in the House of Commons that he held since 2019. Singh entered politics in 2011 after being elected to the Ontario provincial parliament. In 2017, he became the leader of his party, the first person of color to head a federal party in Canada.
