A Toronto teenager’s Facebook video offered a reminder to Canadians that racist incidents happen here, too.
Frank Hong uploaded the video Friday evening, saying he was shocked to witness “racist verbal abuse” in Toronto. A woman was captured yelling at Chinese workers at Foody Mart in Scarborough, frustrated that the employees couldn’t speak fluent English.
“I never thought I’d hear those words in real life but this just happened as I was trying to get some food at a Chinese specialty store,” Hong wrote on the social media site. “As Canadians we think we are safe from these disgusting attitudes and behaviours but we aren’t.”
WATCH: Toronto police report shows rise in hate crimes in 2016
The video shows the unnamed woman yelling, “Go back to China. This is Canada, English first country.”
“If you’re gonna work here, it is the law to know English,” she goes on to claim.
That’s not true, according to the Official Languages Act.
Workers at private businesses in Canada don’t need to speak English. Requirements to speak English and French only apply to certain employees at federal institutions.
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The Foody Mart incident went on for several minutes, Hong explained. Eventually, a woman in line offered to translate menu items in an effort to de-escalate the situation.
Hong says he shared the video to “expose racism.”
“We all need to do something about this so that people won’t have to witness such situations ever again.”
David Hopkinson, a spokesman with Toronto police, said they’ve been informed of the incident, but are not investigating as no formal complaint has been made.
Police reported in March that there was a rise in hate crime reports in 2016. The most frequent offences were property mischief against Jews, assault of LGBT community members, and criminal harassment against Muslims.
Global News reached out to Hong for comment, but has not yet heard back.