Every day, Sukhmani, an 11th grader from Scarborough, carefully ties her turban, a practice rooted in faith, discipline, and identity. But she says that the same visible expression of who she is has made her conscious of her identity.
“They are making fun of the fact that I am wearing a Dastaar now, making fun of the fact of me being vegetarian, making fun of the fact that I have hair on my arms and my legs. It’s really not the most encouraging thing to go through, especially right after the pandemic,” she says.
Sukhmani is not alone. A recent national report released by the World Sikh Organization of Canada found that more than 80 per cent of respondents believe discrimination and hate against Sikhs has increased over the past five years, with verbal harassment reported as the most common form of hate. The survey reports data from over 1,600 Sikh Canadians collected between January 1 and March 1, 2025
Sukhmani says sometimes racist undertones weren’t obvious, but she felt them.
“When I was in elementary school, there was a lot of standing out, being different from everyone else, to a point where everyone was like, ‘Hey, you are different than us, and therefore we are not going to treat you the same way as we treat everyone else,’ and that kinda took a toll on what I thought of myself.”
While the data in the WSO report speaks to the lived experience of many Sikhs in this country, other reports like Stat Canada’s recent police-reported data also cite an uptick in hate-motivated incidents across the country – including those specifically targeting South Asians.
A report by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue also reported a similar trend in anti-South Asian hate speech in Canada, raising concerns about the safety of international students and visible minority communities.
“What I have found is a sharp spike in everyday hate from ordinary Canadians against Indian International students. Like, ‘Go back to your country,’ calling them racial slurs, to even making them feel unwelcome when they walk into a restaurant. That is what I say has led to a racial trauma,” said Reena Kukreja, a professor of global studies at Queen’s University.
Kukreja says that visible symbols of faith and identity, such as turbans, can often make individuals carrying them more vulnerable to being targeted, especially at a time when online misinformation and anti-immigrant rhetoric are becoming more common.
“If you see they are visible, not just because of their visible distinctiveness, but also because of the sheer numbers. So those in itself fuse together to make them easy targets. The third is of course all of them occupying very public-facing jobs like working at a Tim Hortons or in other restaurants.”
With a staggering rise in numbers, the World Sikh Organization of Canada is calling on the federal government to formally recognize anti-Sikh hate within Canada’s next Anti-Racism Strategy and improve data collection specific to Sikh communities. They are also pushing for more awareness and education across institutions.
Their research also shows that rising anti-immigrant narratives could be linked to the far-right sentiment growing around the globe, ultimately contributing to a shift in public attitude towards identifiable communities.
“That’s where it is our job to educate them properly about what it is,” said Sukmani, expressing hope that these experiences are acknowledged in some way and future generations feel safer expressing their identity with confidence.
