Anti-South Asian hate speech in Canada rose by 1,350%: Report
What's the story
A report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has highlighted a shocking rise in anti-South Asian hate speech in Canada, especially against Indians. The report states that on X (formerly Twitter), posts with anti-South Asian slurs rose by over 1,350% from 2023 to 2024. The spike is particularly alarming as police-reported hate crimes against South Asians also surged by over 227% between 2019 and 2023.
Hate speech surge
Over 2,300 posts with anti-South Asian rhetoric were shared
The report also noted that over 2,300 posts with anti-South Asian rhetoric were shared across platforms before Canada's federal election in April. These posts garnered more than 1.2 million engagements. The study highlighted the use of slurs like "pajeet," a made-up name that sounds Indian, as a common form of hate speech targeting South Asians. The report further revealed that between May 2023 and April 2025, over 26,600 posts used the "pajeet" slur in a Canadian context.
Slur usage
Indians are often stereotyped as dirty, dangerous
This is in stark contrast to nearly 1,600 posts using anti-Muslim slurs during the same period. The report also noted that Indians are often stereotyped as dirty, dangerous, and clannish. This is a shift from earlier stereotypes of being overly educated but lacking formal skills or training. The dataset also showed that Indians were often targeted with language invoking the Great Replacement theory—a conspiracy theory alleging non-white migration to Western countries is part of a deliberate demographic change by elites.
Rising xenophobia
Hindustan Times report on rising xenophobia in Canada
A Hindustan Times report last year talked about rising xenophobia in Canada, driven by high immigration. The report said that Indian immigrants were the main target of this antipathy, as they form the largest and most visible group of newcomers to Canada. Concurrently, the institute's report says, "The staggering rise of anti-South Asian hate across Canada both on- and offline represents an urgent threat to these communities and the country's social fabric."