Indians have found themselves targets of suspicion and resentment in country after country, their presence in public life increasingly treated as something to be questioned. The latest example comes from Canada.
A social media post by Canadian political figure Daniel Tyrie has triggered sharp backlash online. Tyrie questioned why Global Affairs Canada was run completely by Indians.” He shared photos of several South Asian-origin officials as supposed evidence of overrepresentation.
Interestingly, the officials he named have deep Canadian roots.
Arun Thangaraj, Deputy Minister of Transport Canada, was born in Canada, according to reports. So was Randeep Sarai, the Liberal MP for Surrey Centre, born in Vancouver and raised in Burnaby. His Sikh parents had come from Punjab before his birth.
Anita Anand, former Defence Minister and current Oakville MP, was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, reports added. Her parents, a surgeon and an anaesthesiologist, had immigrated from India in the early 1960s.
Maninder Sidhu, a Parliamentary Secretary, came to Canada as a young child. His parents arrived in the 1980s as international students before settling in Surrey, where they later built a family business.
Users online were quick to challenge Tyrie’s framing. Several pointed out that the officials he cited were Canadian-born. One user also noted that Tyrie had left out Dominic LeBlanc, a white minister, from his selection of photos. Another asked whether their background mattered at all. The real question, the user said, was whether they were doing their jobs well.
Tyrie pushed back. He argued that being Canadian meant belonging to a lineage stretching back to the nation’s pioneer settlers. A child born to two Indian parents in Canada, he said, remained Indian. He also dismissed the diversity framing. There was nothing diverse about four Indians, he wrote, unless diversity simply meant non-white.
The row has reignited debate over immigration, identity and representation in public institutions.
As a report highlighted, Canada is home to a rapidly growing Indian-origin population. Estimates place the community between 1.8 million and 2.9 million, making it one of the largest overseas Indian diasporas and accounting for roughly 5.1% of the country’s total population.
Census data shows the community grew by 17.5% compared with the previous census. The data reveals its expanding presence in business, politics and public service.
The community has an expanding presence in business, politics and public service. Some critics say Canadian leaders may be taking cues from political rhetoric south of the border.
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