‘They Made Monkey Faces At Us’: South Asian Woman Describes Racist Harassment.

While she was heading to the University of Toronto, she and her friends were harassed because of their race. In Jan. 2025, Sorousheh Salman, a first year student at Toronto Metropolitan University was targeted by two white youths presumed to be between the ages of 15 or 16. The incident took place on a bus from Square One to the UofT campus in Mississauga.

According to Sourousheh the bus was relatively empty when the two girls entered and sat directly behind her and her friends. Sorousheh, originally from Pakistan, is visibly a person of color.

The young girls poked the friend group and would ask them questions in hopes of getting a reaction.

“They kept trying to touch us and asking if we had seen their friend,” said Sorousheh “We tried to keep our conversation with them to a minimum.”

The young girls kept bothering Sorousheh and her friends and eventually the situation escalated when the younger girls began playing what was described as Desi or Indian music.

“I knew they were playing a joke on me but I wasn’t in the mood…Then they took it a step further and started playing ethnic Desi or Indian music to mock us, even though I was the only actual Pakistani there. The rest of my friends are Canadian citizens.” Sorousheh also mentioned that her friends were visible minorities, “They might be brown descendants but you know, like this is just racism.”

According to a 2024 report by Environics Institute, 36 per cent of people from the South Asian community have been affected by racial discrimination in Canada. There has been an increase in discrimination since 2021.

Sorousheh stated they used “Musical.ly,” now known as Tik Tok, to play the audios. Social media has played a role in radicalizing people which has led to an increase in hate crimes. 

The harassment lasted for about 20 minutes until the white girls arrived at their stop. They decided to leave a very sour goodbye for Sorousheh and her friends, “As the bus was still waiting at the bus stop, my friend was like, ‘Sorousheh, don't look to the right’ but they were, like, making monkey faces at us. They kept laughing and were so proud of themselves.” said Sorousheh.