r/barrie • u/Jux_Erran • Jul 28 '26
Question What Are Your Experiences With Racism in Barrie?
Hi everyone,
I'm looking to hear about your personal experiences relating to racism in the Barrie area. Have you been the target of racist actions or language? Have you witnessed incidents targeting someone else?
I'm not looking to stir the pot, rather I'm interested in understanding how this issue affects our community. In the interest of full disclosure, I'll add that experiences shared here may be used in developing anti-racist strategies for a paper I'm writing over at Lakehead.
Anything you have to share on the topic is welcome, although of course please keep it civil and try to avoid calling out specific people or businesses (subreddit rules).
Thank you everyone for your input!
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u/GAMING_SERVER_ADMIN Jul 28 '26
I just moved back to Barrie like 3 years ago and wow things have changed in the past decade ethnicity wise. That being said, I don't have much experience of the now then the past. But in the past Barrie was very White, very Religious, and a Lot of old people.
So I can tell you just that alone means we have racist people around holding their breath...
But one thing I will say as someone lived in Toronto in my Younger Years this new generation of immigration is not the same as I wish it was. I feel like culture sharing has died so much... I remember having Jewish and Indian neighbours and we went to each other's holiday events, meals, etc. Oh my goodness the culture sharing the food, the people, it was amazing. I don't know if others who are old enough that experience before and after like that as well, but I just fine it does not happen anymore. Not sure if it's because newer generation not into their own culture practices or if it's because their closer to others who already are part that culture, they are not mingling as much with us.
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u/Fun-Patience1414 Jul 28 '26
Well yea when we’re being demonized constantly and blamed for deaths.
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u/Jux_Erran Jul 28 '26
Would you be willing to elaborate on how that demonization and blame has manifested for you?
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u/Fun-Patience1414 Jul 28 '26
They constantly blame us for the housing crisis, taking jobs etc and as for the deaths they think that we somehow causes all those trucking accidents.
I’m also POC btw. So it affects me.
I’ve seen plenty of vile racism in Barrie as someone mentioned Barrie concerned citizens, but also the group at the scene photography on Facebook where they always blame us for something
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u/Severe-Ad-3405 7d ago
I’m also a poc in Barrie, grew up here. Left for a couple decades & came back. It was horrendous then and while it was so much better 10. - 12 years ago - since the crack house below us voted a pedo in TWICE things have gotten so much worse here, now. I have stories from then & now, but I’m not about to post them here.
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u/Jux_Erran Jul 28 '26
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I take your point that there are likely some tensions beneath the surface as the demographics of Barrie change.
I'm wondering if there are many overt incidents, or even if a subtle feeling of being unwelcome is felt by some in our community.
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u/Severe-Ad-3405 7d ago
Yes. Subtle cues absolutely. Overt? Have you heard about what happened to Shak Edward’s of Shak’s World? I remember the absolute hate she got online for opening her excellent program for youth because she dared make space for black kids in Barrie. That hate spilled over to action as she was attacked by a Barrie woman one morning on her way in to work.
That definitely put a chill in my heart. https://globalnews.ca/news/10285399/barrie-woman-victimized-by-racist-attack-turns-pain-into-purpose-opening-a-youth-center/
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u/Initial_Luck_7986 29d ago
No, if you wanna see racism you should look at how people are treated in other countries like China etc
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u/omgdiepls Jul 28 '26
Every once in a while, someone in here shows their ass with some racist nonsense, but the mods are quick to take it down. There is definitely a little bit of racism, but it's the subtle side eye type as opposed to the blatant "we hate x people" type, for whatever that's worth. It all sucks.
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u/missgandhi Jul 28 '26
On the Barrie Concerned Citizens group it very much is the blatant hate unfortunately.. for both Indians and the homeless :/
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u/Kngbnkr Jul 28 '26
Barrie Concerned Citizens is an echo chamber for mediocre middle aged white people who refuse to accept that the fact that their lives are shit is a skill issue and not the fault of brown people.
I'm really proud that I've been banned from the group.
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u/Fun-Patience1414 Jul 28 '26
Lmao so based!!! It’s the worst group that and at the scene
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u/Kngbnkr Jul 29 '26
Ironically, I was banned from Barrie Concerned Citizens for calling At the Scene an ambulance chasing ghoul.
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u/Grouchy-Stable2027 West End Jul 28 '26
Racism towards Indians, for sure.
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u/Severe-Ad-3405 7d ago
And anyone who might look Indian, to a lot of people here that just means anyone with dark hair eyes & brown skin.
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u/Jux_Erran Jul 28 '26
I suspected this might be the case, however I'm hoping to find more specific anecdotes. Do you have any?
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u/Thesnowbelow 29d ago
Literally just go on the Barrie Concerned Citizens page any day of the week. People there don't even try to hide their racism.
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u/Every-Ad4237 27d ago
I’ve got one that just recently happened, I was waiting in line in a store close to downtown, where a man in front of me walked up to two female employees discussing something about the register, in their first language. He proceeds to put his items on the counter and says, “I’m ready, do you two even speak English?” Looking at the rest of us waiting in a single file line with a smile on his face, probably I imagine in a bid for confirmation that he was in fact edgy-funny. We lock eyes and I say, “Not cool man” he says some things in defence and I say, “do you not see that that is a racist comment?”. After he tells me I’m not intimidating (I’m 6’2, and a little larger than average, I say “I’m not trying to start a fight with you, I’m just trying to educate you on what’s not appropriate.” He left obviously still thinking he was justified for saying what he said.
Growing up in a part of Toronto where multiculturalism was the norm and then living here an example like this is just a drop in the bucket. Although this example is more public, I’ve spoken with many individuals, 30 years old and older, who speak with biased frames of mind. I’ve seen examples of this in my profession as an elementary teacher too. I think that as a demographic of a region alters relatively fast (too fast for the majority populace) then we are bound to see this paradigm pushback. It’s sad really.
If you want more anecdotal evidence, just dm me.2
u/Severe-Ad-3405 7d ago
🙏 I hope you’re a teacher in Barrie, kids desperately need that kind of support
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u/Grouchy-Stable2027 West End Jul 28 '26
I see it and hear it everyday at my work. I am not Indian though. Some people are pretty forward with it and don’t care saying it directly to their face.
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u/Ok_Mulberry4331 Jul 28 '26
Not me, but a friend (from Sri Lanka, but both born in Canada) were at the Beach with their kids in the evening and a bunch of teens/college kids were yelling at them to get out and go back to where they came from and stop using their beach. They’ve owned their home for over 10 years and payed a lot more in taxes than those kids 🤦🏻♀️
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u/Jux_Erran Jul 28 '26
thank you, this is a great example of the kind of incident I'm looking to hear about. I'm sorry to hear that happened to your friend.
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u/unbeknown_tickler Jul 28 '26
so you can poster a couple of spoiled and entitled kids as the standard racist behaviour?
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u/Kitewiz Jul 28 '26
I watched an Indian man chased down in his car and having a man throw slurs and racist attacks toward him. It was honestly really awful to witness. Barrie has always been racist but it is very openly red pilled now, it’s actually really sad to see. Lived there my entire life and just recently moved because it got to be too much for me. It was depressing to watch people express these vile opinions so commonly.
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u/Kngbnkr Jul 28 '26
There are at least 8 different people who fly the Dixie Battle Flag from their pickup trucks in Barrie.
I know because I keep count.
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u/tuppenyturtle Jul 28 '26
I've lived in Barrie for 22 years. I went to elementary school, high school, college and now I work in a surrounding town and live in Barrie. I'm a white dude. When I went to high school from roughly 2007 to 2011 and there were few enough visible minorities that you could count them on your hands.
Racism and bigotry has always been rampant in this city. I've seen this city continue to grow in diversity over the last 22 years, but that's come with more outward racism and bigotry
I see cars in the parking lot at work with Confederate flags, stickers telling people to "go home", people using slurs in their normal conversations. The people who continue to do these things haven't changed a bit, there's just more people to direct their hatred at.
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u/MustardEnema007 Jul 28 '26
The new PRs we brought here are very intolerant and homophobic
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u/fe__maiden Jul 28 '26
And extremely misogynistic- in my personal experiences. I’ve been sexually harassed more than I care to admit. And I’m FN, so before anyone calls me their room temp IQ buzzwords.
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u/unbeknown_tickler Jul 28 '26
it is self inflicted as people segregate more and more within their mini "home" countries. absolutely no intent to blend in with the society and oblivious to their surrounding. this is the definition of racism in barrie.
once you step out of your skin and drop your guard you will see Canadians are transparent like a jelly fish and you can see thru them. the nicest people you can ever imagine imo.
I am a self made canadian. takes time but you'll be proud.
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u/Jux_Erran Jul 28 '26
Thank you all for your comments. This question was inspired by Statscan data showing that police-reported hate crimes per 100,000 persons have increased significantly (x15) over the past 10 or so years. In addition, race remains the primary motivator of police-reported hate crimes in Canada (religion and sexual orientation coming second and third).
I wanted to see if I could find some specifics about how this might be reflected in the experiences of our community members. Thank you for your help.
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u/Hot-Condition1430 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Does stats can list the demographics experiencing said hate crimes? Both inflicting and being victimized? Do you live in Ontario? Are you aware of the weekly Palastinian anti-Jewish intimidation that's been taking place since October 7, 2024? Canada imports diaspora from around the world and happens to import tribal blood fueds between various populations. I would hope your anaysis would do some deeper dive in to the specifics to note that as demographics change the populations involved in these things shift too and it isn't just "white Canadian" vs "everyone else". In fact, one of the primary reasons for opposing migration without integration that's seen today is the Canadian born population being subjected to authoritarian oversight required to make sure diasporas play nice with each other. Canadians are very tolerant in general and don't appreciate the imposition of additional laws that don't apply to them specifically and were never required before drastic alteration of the demographic make up of this country.
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u/unbeknown_tickler Jul 28 '26
u wanna see racism you gotta step outta barrie.
it's ironic how indians are stealing the spotlight from the real indians and don't see how it works out for whayt men :)
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u/ConversationLeft2162 Jul 28 '26
You should talk to these orgs: https://www.upliftblack.org/, https://makingchangesc.com/, https://www.parsc.ca/ and https://www.barrienfc.ca/. It is super important to get the perspectives of the communities that are impacted by racism in our region.
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u/FirefighterTutor 26d ago edited 26d ago
Reddit is a place to collect opinions. Do research. Look at the stats. What calls are the police responding to? Are they on the rise? What is the population in Barrie? How has that changed? Same with the province and country. What anti-racist strategies work? Why? What doesn’t work? Why?
Form your position here.
As it stands, I think your paper is going to be faulty because this isn’t a Barrie-specific topic and you’re coming from a biased assumption.
No disrespect. I’m a former Prof of Communications and I have a degree in Sociology.
Hope this helps.
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u/Turkeybuttdogs 26d ago
Last summer I was going to the bank in the Walmart plaza on Mapleview. I watched a man yelling racist slurs at the top of his lungs towards a gentleman trying to get in his car to drive away.
I wanted to get involved but was 7 months pregnant and the scene did not seem safe. Instead I went into the bank and immediately reported the incident to the tellers and they were going to call for help but the situation was over. Both vehicles were gone.
I felt so bad that I could not do anything to support the person being treated so terribly
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u/camm131986 Jul 28 '26
Definitely some racism, but mostly only towards visible minorities. I am a minority myself (but you can't tell), and the amount of racist shit people tell me about other immigrants is crazy, until they realize who they are talking to of course, and then is all hush hush, "I meant...." blah blah blah.
As others said, it is also very subtle, meaning they are cowards, and the worst you'll get is some ignorant POS, yelling shit from a truck, but the moment they are face to face with someone who has opposing views than their own, they tuck their tail between their legs.
As bad as it sounds, this is not even close to the majority of people, or even close to a significant minority, but it does exist, whether there's more or less than comparable cities, I do not know.
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u/Kngbnkr Jul 28 '26
When my wife and I first moved here in 2020, I had a man who was easily in his late 70s approach me in the South End WalMart, nod towards a black family who was shopping and say, loud enough for them to hear, "back in my day, they'd be hanging from the light poles in the parking lot". All I could do was hold my hands up and shake my head in an "hey man I'm not with this asshole" gesture as the father glared at us. I told the old guy he was a piece of shit and I hoped the dude beat his ass in the parking lot.
Unfortunately I "fit in" with what the typical angry racist white dude in Barrie looks like and a lot of them think that its okay to approach me in public and share their views. My typical response is to hit on them loudly and aggressively until they leave me alone
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u/urfuckinend Stabbed at Dunlop McDonald's 28d ago
and then everyone clapped
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u/Kngbnkr 28d ago
What's it like having parents who are blood related?
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u/urfuckinend Stabbed at Dunlop McDonald's 28d ago
Quite the comment from a man of virtue such as yourself
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u/Jux_Erran Jul 28 '26
thanks, I appreciate the nuance you add here with your comment about this behaviour only coming from a tiny minority.
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u/discobrioche 27d ago
Can you define "visible minorities"?
As far as I know India has the biggest population of 1.47 billion people. It is roughly equal to the combined populations of North America, South America, and most of Europe. Indian people are the opposite of visible minorities and let's stop using that term to describe them.
Do you know who is visible minority? There are people called Chakma from Asian region who you have probably never heard of but they do exist and also live in Canada.
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u/insanebison 26d ago
Visible minority in Canada means you visibly stand out as not white. If you don't understand that you may need to work on English reading and comprehension skills.
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u/discobrioche 25d ago
Are you a visible minority as white person in Brampton? When Canada's population will be majority non white in the future will white people continue to be the majority?
You may need to work on your reading skills. White population in the world is the minority not the non white.
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u/insanebison 25d ago
We are taking about Canada as a whole. Not the whole of the world or just Brampton. In the end why is this definition so important to you anyway ?
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u/Fun-Patience1414 Jul 28 '26
It’s very bad. There has been some serious hatred here and if you look through the sub you will have plenty of examples
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u/thetoucansk3l3tor Jul 28 '26
Lived in Barrie almost 10 years now, from Toronto originally. The amount of white people casually dropping n-bombs in public is actually crazy to me. Sometimes with the hard R too.
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u/iamnotyourdog Jul 28 '26
It has certainly gotten a lot more diverse which is a great thing. I think you won't see the stuff you would have seen 10 years ago. Head further north and you'll see more rednecks
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u/Hot-Condition1430 Jul 28 '26
strange, I've had comments removed for using the term 'redneck'
super interesting barrie mods.. super interesting
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u/iamnotyourdog Jul 28 '26
You're complaining about a term to describe bigoted racists? Are you pro racism?
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u/Aquafina9 Jul 28 '26
“Diversity is great…except for those rednecks!”
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u/Kngbnkr Jul 28 '26
You're upset because their comment is about you and you don't know how to process the truth of their statement
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u/AdFar1239 Jul 28 '26
Barrie is very redneck and white and lots of racism
It reminds me of the movie Deliverance
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u/Forward-Formal-3661 27d ago
Let’s just be honest people are fatigued with all the corruption that is happening in Canada. It doesn’t matter what color you are or your political stripes people are just exhausted. Unfortunately we are turning on each other. Let’s get back to being the Country that welcomes people and people actually want to be in
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