Police investigating racially-charged confrontation at ferry docks

Toronto police say they’re investigating a racially-charged confrontation between a man and a Muslim family at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal on Monday night.

The confrontation was caught on video and posted early Tuesday morning to Facebook. It has over 200,000 views.

CityNews spoke to the man who received most of the verbal abuse. He said he lives in Toronto and was hosting family from Chicago. They were returning from the Toronto Islands when the unprovoked confrontation soured what had otherwise been an enjoyable family outing.

The man didn’t want to be identified but said the trouble started when a man he believed to be inebriated walked up to his brother in an intimidating fashion.

“As soon as he came so close to my brother’s face, I’m like, ‘This is not normal,’ and I said, ‘Hey what are you doing?'” he recalled.

He said the man then began yelling at his family. The video, shot by one of the family members, picks up mid-confrontation.

In it, the man repeatedly screams, “You don’t tell me what to do in my province.”

At various moments throughout the four-minute video, the irate man bumps, pushes and swats at members of the Muslim family, who occasionally push back.

“It’s my province. What are you guys doing here?” the man asked. “Where the f**k are you from?”

“You’re an idiot. I’m born here,” one of them fired back.

But the man didn’t relent and continued screaming at the family.

“You don’t ask me a question here in my f***ing province. I grew up here … Welcome to Ontario, you asshole.”

Eventually a security guard arrived, but the man continued his verbal barrage.

Police told CityNews they were called to the area on Monday around 6:30 p.m. for a possible assault. Officers spoke to the man, but so far no charges have been laid. The investigation is still open.

The City of Toronto also commented, saying it was cooperating with police and would review how city staff responded.

“Racism, harassment and assault are not acceptable in our parks and public spaces,” spokeswoman Jane Arbour told CityNews.

For the man hosting family from out of town, it was an embarrassing and disturbing episode.

“It was embarrassing for us as Canadians that (our relatives from Chicago) had to see that the first time they are here,” he said. “I kind of made sure that my family understood that this is not what Canada is about and that one individual doesn’t represent us Canadians.”

At the same time, he said he was disappointed no one stepped up to defend his family.

“There was a lot of people watching as it happened, but I felt like no one was kind of saying anything or standing up (to him),” he said.

University of Toronto Associate Professor Mohammed Fadel stressed how important it is for bystanders to take a stand against bigotry.

“There are pockets, even in this great city, that harbour great hostility toward Muslims, and sometimes it erupts in harassment like we saw in that video,” he said.

“I think that when we see it, we have to stand up against it. A lot of times, passersby are afraid to intervene. I think that kind of passive toleration of it as ‘Oh it’s just a nut, just ignore it’ that contributes to the feeling of certain groups that they can get away with things like that without any penalty.

“A culture of no tolerance for that kind of public abuse of people on city streets would go a long way to prevent incidents like that from happening in future.”